


Blonde Day

by TheSpaceSpace



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Canon Compliant, Eventual Romance, F/M, Slow Burn, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, emotIONALLY CONSTIPATED LAXUS, it's all fluff and romance and friendship I mean what else is there to tag, oh yeah I guess there's that too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-16 21:17:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 46,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5841319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpaceSpace/pseuds/TheSpaceSpace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an eye-opening talk in the guild’s pool, Lucy Heartfilia is determined to befriend Fairy Tail’s grouchy Lightning Dragon Slayer, Laxus Dreyar. So she tricks -- ehem-- ‘<i>convinces</i>’ Laxus to meet with her every Thursday under the guise that it’s ‘Blonde Day’. Neither of them could have foreseen just how much their (at first, awkward) relationship would flourish. Laxlu. Slowburn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Positive Poolside Promises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Blonde Day' will be a Lucy/Laxus slow-burn because I am weak. This is a canon divergence and the Tartarus Arc has not transpired. Updated weekly on _**Fridays**_ (was previously on Sundays).
> 
> Rating is T for swearing and for the light sexual content that'll come much later.
> 
> Disclaimer: But, of course, I do not own Fairy Tail (or the quotes underneath the chapter titles that you will see). If I did then the biggest plot conflict would be what shoes Lucy would wear every day.
> 
>  **Special A/N:** Let's be real, I'm just posting this on AO3 to stop people from stealing this work. My main account is _[here](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7412668/TheSpaceSpace)_ under the same name on FanFiction.net. 'Blonde Day' will be updated every _**Thursday**_ there, a _whole day_ earlier.

 

.

_**Chapter One: Positive Poolside Promises**  
_

_'a promise is a promise is a promise'_

_._

The summer heat bared cruelly down on Magnolia, a beautiful city that was alive with din and visitors from all around Fiore. The cobblestone streets were spotted with vendors and their brightly colored stands that showed off their newest, and slightly overpriced, merchandise to the tourists. Employees with jobs at the ice cream stands that were scattered across the city were all about to undergo a mental breakdown as they were hit with wave after wave of sweating, desperate crowds seeking a chill dessert to cool them off from the sun's harsh rays.

The thriving green park was overfilling with rowdy children and their exhausted parents while teenagers and their friends were running wildly through the street, causing mayhem and making decisions they would undoubtedly regret in a few years to come. Magnolia was absolutely brimming with life. Even a dozen or so pickpockets were making their way through the streets, stealing from anyone naive enough not to safely secure their belongings while visiting a crowded city.

Somewhere in the depths of the city a foolish pickpocket in particular had made the horrific mistake of trying to nab the wallet of an exceptionally small, blue-haired, Fairy Tail mage. The thief's wailing could be heard for a radius of five hundred feet as they were bellowed at and stepped on by an incredibly larger mage with numerous metal piercings. The shouting man had the tiny female's arms wrapped around his waist, yelling at _him_ to not kill the pickpocket as she pitifully attempted to hold him back.

These two mages belonged to city's magnificent and treasured guild, Fairy Tail. Near the outskirts of Magnolia, the guild's main building shone brightly in the sun and loosely resembled a modern stone castle. Tired, yet cheerful, groups of people rested on chairs situated under the umbrellas that dotted the guild's front. They were served drinks and snacks by workers, some of whom were even the mages themselves who were brought in due to the need for extra help. The staff smiled brilliantly and laughed loudly, but were secretly coming up with increasingly vulgar insults for the ruder customers that had no patience and demanded their already busy attention.

In the back of the guild was a indoor pool that, surprisingly enough, had been completely devoid of people until five minutes ago when three members of Fairy Tail had walked up to it.

Slowing dipping her toe into the water of the guild's pool, Lucy Heartfilia almost purred in pleasure when she found the temperature wasn't freezing. She really wasn't in the mood to be cold, and chilly water would definitely not help her already sore and tight muscles. She had just slid in waist-high when her surroundings darkened suspiciously. The Celestial Spirit mage barely had any time to glance up and spot the giant, towering wave of water before it smacked into her face with a _whoosh_.

She stood there, shocked, for a few moments before her eyelids fluttered rapidly to attempt to squeeze the water from her eyes. Lucy gave herself a second to build up the scream in her throat before she unleashed hell on the culprit, " _Natsu_!" But her fury raised no response other than a giggle from a certain swimsuit-clad blue cat who soared languidly above the pool in lopsided loops.

The Fire Dragon Slayer, looking ridiculous with his pink hair plastered to his head, grinned lazily and threw himself backwards. Lucy's eyes narrowed and followed him as he began swimming in large ovals around her like some sort of self-satisfied shark. "Ah, come one, Luce," Natsu whined from behind her. He was able to get in another splash at his partner before she could turn around and catch him. "We're in a pool, and what do you do in a pool?"

"Splash Lucy!" Happy cheekily supplied above them. The Exceed made a sudden right turn to avoid the pair of flower-patterned arm floaties that was chucked at him.

Natsu beamed up at Happy. "That's right!" The two shared an overenthusiastic high-five that had the other mage rolling her eyes.

Lucy sighed and reached up to take her hair in her hands and twist it to drain some of the water. She had been hoping to not get it wet to avoid showering later, but honestly what else did she expect when she agreed to let Natsu drag her to the pool. Speaking of being dragged places…

Lucy put a hand on her waist and absentmindedly fingered the ruffles on her bathing suit. Poking out behind the material was a quite spectacular, blooming purple and blue bruise on her hip, and the Celestial Spirit mage grimaced. It was just one of many, and she carefully poked at the bruise, only to draw back with a hiss when the slightest of pressure hurt.

"But don't you think," Lucy stopped her prodding and tried, "now isn't the time to be splashing me? I just came back from a tricky solo mission all bruised up," she gestured to a few bandages that were thankfully made waterproof thanks to a certain Sky Dragon Slayer, "and you guys promised a relaxing afternoon. Drowning doesn't seem like a relaxing afternoon." She knew she was over exaggerating a bit on the drowning part, but Lucy thought she had deserved the right after what had just happened to her that morning.

The grin on both Natsu and Happy's faces twisted down into a concerned frown as they looked over their banged-up partner. It wasn't anything too bad, definitely not bad enough to stop Lucy from being manhandled into the guild's empty pool because Natsu wanted to splash around in it when no one else was there. It was just a few nasty scrapes and bruises from being thrown into a particularly sturdy wall.

Happy swooped down and dropped onto her head, earning him a surprised yip from Lucy, and Natsu waddled closer, his frown slowly turning into a pout. "You wouldn't have gotten hurt if we had gone with you," Natsu grouched like an upset kid, looking away and crossing his arms. "Happy could have picked you up and dropped you behind him so you could get him with your whip while I distracted him or somethin'."

His dark eyes shifted to look at Lucy's face to see if she agreed. If the stubborn look in her eyes said anything, it said that she didn't agree, so he quickly averted his eyes again.

"It's okay, _I'm_ okay," Lucy emphasized with a light voice, and Happy patted her forehead with his paw as if to comfort her. She knew how tough it was to not worry about _nakama_ when they went off on a job by themselves. The blonde always found herself fretting over Juvia or Gray or Erza while they took on a solo mission when Mavis knows she had nothing to fear.

Really, other than her harsh and unexpected greeting with a solid stone wall, the mission had gone just fine. She had even splurged and gotten to spend last night in a fancy inn, and she practically ran into her escaped criminal target when she was walking in the woods searching for his hideout.

"But, I would appreciate it if I could just spend the rest of the day without being tackled, or," her eyebrow twitched, and Happy jumped off her head and flew towards the chairs, "being brainbuster-ed."

"Fine," Natsu elongated the word and sank down into the water up to his nose. The dragon slayer began to sulk, but then he was promptly distracted by Happy. The Exceed had an evil smirk on his face as he dangled Natsu's thick, black bracelet over the water. "What are friends for?" The mage rushed out before jumping after his cackling cat.

As the two messed around and shouted, Lucy could only watch with a fond smile. Natsu repeatedly tried to leap after Happy, but the Exceed was too quick in the air. This continued on for a minute or two, and with one lucky grab, the rosette was able to nab Happy's foot and drag him down into the water.

More yelling and some friendly name-calling were exchanged as Natsu roughly fastened a dainty yellow floatie with kittens on it around Happy's small body, and Lucy swam to the pool's stairs to sit on. Her feet were killing her, and she was really regretting her decision of wearing flats instead of a nice pair of sneakers when she went out chasing her prisoner.

As she swung her feet back and forth in the water, immensely enjoying the feeling of cool water rush in between her toes, the blonde tilted her head and watched her partners splash around. Their laughing was loud enough that it could probably be heard from the other side of the guild. At that thought, Lucy twirled her finger in tiny circles in the water and began thinking about her friends that were most likely overhearing their rambunctious evening.

Sometimes it suddenly hit Lucy that everyone in the guild was _her_ friends. Every last one of them was special to her, and it truly shocked her from time to time. She went from a lonely little girl in a mansion that was too big for her, to a woman with a family she would die for. It made her stomach all toasty, in the good way, just thinking about it. "Isn't it amazing how," Lucy mused out loud, caught up in the warm feeling spreading across her chest, "signing up to join a guild practically means you're signing up to a whole new group of friends and family?"

Natsu and Happy paused in their playing to give her a flat stare. Natsu clutched a squirming, drenched Happy under his chin and deadpanned, "Lucy, you're being weird again."

She bristled. "Am not!" She was being _sentimental_. If anything, _they_ were weird for not immediately grasping what she was talking about. "But seriously, everyone in the guild would take a fatal blow for each other. In Fairy Tail, everyone's each other's friends!" Lucy clasped her hands together right above her heart and was confident that sparkling stars and hearts were whirling around in her brown eyes. "It's such a romantic idea!"

"How's that romantic?" Natsu questioned at the same time Happy quipped up, "That isn't true for one mage in the guild."

"Huh?" Lucy blinked as she was abruptly ripped out of her own little, mystical world. There was someone in Fairy Tail who wasn't-

"Laxus!" Happy sounded too cheerful, considering the situation.

 _Did he just say… Laxus_? "Laxus," The celestial mage dumbly repeated. _Laxus Dreyar_?

Lucy hadn't… she really hadn't thought about Laxus. And, embarrassingly enough, that sort of proved the Exceed's point. Lucy unconsciously slid down a step into the pool as she let out a soft 'huh'. Ever since the Grand Magic Games, the Lightning Dragon Slayer had taken it upon himself to be as allusive as possible, so no one really ever got the chance to grow close to him. Now that she was thinking about it, he was either on the second floor doing paperwork while cursing out his grandfather and multiple teams (mostly Team Natsu), or hidden in a darkened corner of the guild with the _Raijinshū_ by his side.

He didn't cause any trouble, he didn't purposely raise attention to himself, and he didn't start up any fights -unlike a certain team member of hers. It was like he had melted into the background of everyone's conscious. Everyone's conscious except for, apparently, Happy's.

Mavis, now Lucy felt horrible. Had she really been disregarding one of her _nakama_ this entire time? Laxus' unsocial, and quite frankly, lonely routine had become a norm for him, but if anyone else started to adapt it, the guild would be worried. So why was it any different for him?

At least she wasn't alone in her surprise. Natsu had released Happy, which the cat immediately took advantage of and swam away, and had that look on his face that meant he was focusing hard on something as he gnawed on his lower lip.

"Oh shit," the slayer suddenly groaned. "Happy's right."

Lucy easily ignored the cat's ' _of course, I always am_ ' to flinch and twist her pruning hands nervously together. "I've never seen him playfully interact with anyone other than the _Raijinshū_ ," Lucy muttered while Natsu began sinking in the water again, almost as if his new-found guilt was physically weighing him down. "Have you ever even heard him laugh loudly? A really big, booming laugh that wasn't because he just annihilated his opponents?"

Was Laxus truly content this way? Lucy knew he was not and would never be a socialite, but the man rarely talked to _anybody_ outside the _Raijinshū._ After Tenrou Island and the Grand Magic Games, everyone was well aware of the fact that Laxus now saw all of Fairy Tail's members as his _nakama_ , and he always protected them with his life. However, the fellow blonde mage never took it upon himself to get closer to anyone. It was almost like he begrudgingly saw them all as annoying younger siblings, and he wanted to keep it that way.

Lucy wanted to bring her hand up to her mouth and begin nervously biting at her nails. She was starting to get stressed the more she thought about how there was a big possibility that Laxus Dreyar wasn't happy.

"No, I haven't," Natsu confessed, now looking more worried himself. "Spark Plug's always frownin'." After a moment, the mage's face unexpectedly brightened and his body began bobbing enthusiastically. "Maybe… Maybe if I can get him to fight me, I can knock some sense into him!"

Fight him? Natsu wanted to try to fight the S-Class mage again? "Wait a second!" Lucy spluttered from the stairs, but Natsu was already getting excited. Somewhere around them Lucy could hear an eager ' _aye_!' from Happy.

"I'll deliver an uppercut of friendship to his jaw!" The hothead continued, mimicking the move in the air and laughing cockily. If Lucy looked hard enough, she could see steam rising from his hair. "Then I'll yell something inspiring at his face. Something like, 'we care about you, dumbass!'. We'll make him want to be our friends!"

She could picture the scene in her head, and it definitely would not work out the way Natsu was imagining. She could already hear the sound of cracking bones and Natsu moaning to everyone he could for the next few weeks to spoon-feed him his soup because he couldn't himself with shattered forearms.

"How about instead of violence, someone could fill Laxus' heart and mind with compassion?" The blonde mage offered. Lucy never would have believed she would utter the words 'compassion' and 'Laxus' in the same sentence, and instead of thinking that was funny, it made her strangely sad.

Natsu waved his hand and guffawed. "Pft, fine. That'll work too, I guess."

At least the rosette wouldn't jump the lightning mage the next time he saw him. Lucy sighed in relief as Happy giggled, "But who would be able to become _Laxus'_ friend?"

Lucy opened her mouth, only to close it again. Who would have the correct amount of empathy and determination to take on the task of becoming a close friend of the guild's most withdrawn, and sometimes frightening, S-Class mage? Maybe Wendy? Lucy knew that Laxus was particularly protective of the smallest dragon slayer, everyone was.

Most certainly overthinking this, the celestial mage propped her elbow on her thigh and rested her cheek on the palm of her hand. Laxus obviously cared for Wendy's welfare a bit more than he did for most members of the guild, but did he see the young girl as too much of a little sister to become close companions with her? There was a substantial gap in their ages, too. Laxus wouldn't be able to talk to her about some things, whether because they were inappropriate or heavier, for Wendy was still a teen.

The Fire Dragon Slayer stroked his chin as if he had one of those unsettling, villain goatees. "Who indeed…" Natsu tilted his head side to side before he finally settled on, "Someone nice."

"Someone patient." Lucy nodded.

Natsu pursed his lips in an exaggerated manner, which earned him a distracted snicker from the blonde mage. "Someone who'll tolerate his bullshit," he said rather bluntly.

"Someone who'll bring him fish!" Happy chirped in and threw his tiny paws up in the air.

"Someone emotionally aware to catch certain cues and know whether to back off or pursue forwards," Lucy added as her mind shifted through possibilities. Levy? No. Lisanna? Nah. Juvia? Nope. Jet or Droy? Definitely not. Mira? No, she was already scaring him into going places with her. Erza - _no_.

Natsu snapped his fingers several times and Lucy could see him biting the inside of his cheek in concentration. "Someone like…" and as if they had practiced this beforehand, Natsu and Happy both exclaimed at the same time, "Someone like Lucy!"

The Celestial Spirit mage jerked back like she had been slapped. "M-Me?" she stuttered out, her head whirling. Her? Laxus didn't see her as anyone other than the blonde he had reluctantly accepted as family, right? Lucy couldn't even recall a time where they had talked for more than forty-five seconds. The most Laxus has ever spoken to her was the time when he was writing apologetic letters to cities and asked her if she remembered if her team had destroyed the public _onsen_ or the _konyokuburo_ in Balsam Village (it was the public _onsen_ ).

The other two didn't seem to notice her hesitation, and Natsu came rushing over to take grab her shoulders and lightly shake her. "That's it!" The pink haired mage shouted, a shining smile making its way onto his face. "You could be the one to befriend that giant piece of self-centered shit!"

Happy climbed up Natsu's shoulder, sat on the sopping, pink mop known as the mage's hair, and reached over to press his paws to her forehead. "Aye, sir! Lucy's the nicest person in Fairy Tail! If anyone can befriend Laxus, it'll be Lucy!"

Heat started forming in Lucy's cheeks much to her embarrassment. She glanced back and forth between the two's eager faces. Did they really think that much of her? "Really?" She asked incredibly. Did they have that much faith in her too?

"Yeah, totally!" The rosette nodded, causing Happy to pull away from the blonde and clutch at Natsu's moving head for support so he didn't go flying off. "So, what do you say?"

Well… How could she doubt her partner's words when he said them so honestly and his dark eyes shined so brightly? Lucy huffed out a breath and felt a smile tugging at her own lips. "Yeah," she breathed. She could totally do this. Her eyes snapped up towards the sky and she confidently declared to the world, "Yeah!" She turned away from the two, twisting out of Natsu's grip, and stared with a determined glint in her eyes at the guild's wall in front of her.

" _Yeah_!" she repeated one last time as she put her hands on her hips. "I'm gonna do it! I'm going to befriend Laxus Dreyar and get him to open up to everyone until he sees every last person in Fairy Tail as not only his _nakama_ , but as close friends! And that is a promise." And when he does that, perhaps the lightning mage could smile more and lose that awkward stiffness in his posture.

"Yosh!" Natsu cheered and fist pumped the air, effectively knocking Happy off his head and causing the cat to fall into the pool with a splash. "I'm all fired up now!"

Lucy swirled back around and shared an aggressive and pumped up high-five with her pink-haired partner. However, their joy and energy collapsed into a crashing heap the moment Happy floated in between them and said idly, "But how will you get Laxus to talk to you?"

"I…" Lucy paused. "Oh." She hadn't thought of that either. Getting to know Laxus meant actually _talking_ to Laxus, who knew? She didn't know how to talk to Laxus. In fact, other than the _Raijinshū_ , did anyone know how to talk to Laxus? Was it even safe to talk to the man? The Lightning Dragon Slayer tended to carry around an aura that screamed, ' _if you talk to me I'll either grunt or electrocute you, it's always a toss-up_ '.

The blonde looked towards her teammate for help, but Natsu just casually shrugged. "Hey, don't look at me, I have no idea."

"How _do_ I get him to talk to me?" Lucy turned her questioning look to the blue cat. "If I just casually walk up to him and start talking about Magnolia's perfect summer weather, he'll think its super weird and be suspicious."

Before Happy could respond, surely with a brilliant way to solve their problems because he was the one who reminded the mages of them, Natsu asked, "Is it bad for him to realize you want to become friends with him?" The slayer looked puzzled, like he just couldn't grasp the concept that a person would turn down someone who made it clear that they wanted to be their friend.

"Well," Lucy's fingers twitched and she began anxiously running them through her wet hair. The confidence she had harbored a minute ago had been nearly drained, and she began conjuring up all the ways things could go wrong. "If he figures out my intentions, then it could put a strain on the blooming relationship. Knowing you have to become friends with someone because they declared it so could make things awkward." She glanced towards the guild. "Or he could think that I have some ulterior motive. Like if I become his friend, I'll get special missions from him. What with him being the guild master in training."

"But that's not true," Natsu protested, and he got a certain, furious glint in his eyes. "No one in Fairy Tail would ever think like that!"

The blonde feverishly nodded, "Of course no one would," she said complacently, trying to calm the rosette down before he could, quite literally, explode. "But Laxus is a very suspicious man. I wouldn't put it past him to think that, or worse." Lucy smiled and brushed some hair that kept falling in her eyes behind her ear. "That means I just have to be subtle and sneaky!"

Happy, who had been suspiciously quiet this entire time, finally decided to grace them with his opinion, "Lucy, you're terrible at being sneaky."

It was an unwanted opinion to say the least, and it the celestial mage's temper momentarily flared when the pink haired slayer started laughing and heartily agreed. But because Lucy was a better person, she swallowed down her shout and relaxed the arm that had been inching upwards to prepare a karate chop the top of her teammates' heads.

"I'll just have to figure out a way to get him to agree to talk with me," she said. That sounded a lot simpler and easier than it really was. "The first step is smooth conversation. If we can easily talk together, then we can get to know each other. I need to get him alone, but how?" She wondered out loud. "When he's not with the _Raijinshū_ , he's always rigidly sitting in the corner of the guild."

Natsu snorted and began throwing a laughing Happy up over his head, catching the cat when he came back down. It vaguely looked like a combination of the move fathers do to their daughters and a trust exercise. "If you want to be alone with him, then you definitely got to get him out of the guild. Someone will always be watching you." The dragon slayer shivered. "Mirajane and Erza see _everything_."

"Ugh." Lucy ran her hands down her face. "Basically, I have to convince him to go somewhere with me to begin talking to him? He'll never accept that!" the blonde wailed. "I can't just go up to him and say, 'hey, Laxus, let's go on a walk together!'." Her face was heating up again just from envisioning it.

Happy squirmed in Natsu's arms, and the rosette let him go. The blue Exceed swam over to Lucy, who, without thinking, picked the drenched cat up. "Why don't you make it a special playdate then?" Happy asked and practically sat atop of her generous chest. "Or like a secret spy meeting only you two can go to."

Lucy blinked down at him. None of what he said had made sense, but she got some fragments of it. A special day of it? A meeting? A certain idea began forming in her head, becoming more and more concrete the longer she thought of it. Yes, yes, that could possibly work.

Water flew everywhere as Natsu quickly shook his head. "But, Happy, they're not spies-"

The idea became complete and a _click_ that Lucy was sure everyone could hear. "That's genius!" Not just genius, but also _perfect_. Why hadn't she thought of it sooner? How did a cat figure it out before she did?

"Hah?!" Natsu cried while Happy preened in Lucy's arms. "You're spies?!" The slayer out a hand to his chest and gave them a betrayed look.

Lucy shifted Happy in her arms and waved a hand. "No, no, of course not, don't even pretend to think we were, it's serious time," she chastised, and Natsu dropped the expression, muttering something like ' _you're no fun today_ ' as he did.

"It's like Happy said, I need to make a day out of it! A weekly day!" The Celestial Spirit mage was starting to get excited again. With this idea, surely she could at least get the ball rolling in the right direction. "Every week I'll invite Laxus to a cute restaurant for a couple hours, and I'll say it's for some sort of fun meeting. Like… like an exclusive club just for us! You know, like how that one group of teenagers made a cooking club," she tried to explain. "What were they called again?"

"Magnolia's Mouthwatering Assemblage, 'MMA' for short. They meet every Wednesday at one of their houses," Natsu supplied without a moment's hesitation. At the gapes he got from Happy and Lucy, he scratched under his jaw and said casually, "I was walking home alone one day, you and Happy were shopping with Wendy and Carla, when I ran into them being cornered by some baddies."

"Baddies?" The other two repeated simultaneously.

Natsu's grin could have lit her entire street for an hour. "Just some random dudes who were after their bags of fresh ingredients. I took care of them-" Lucy was afraid to ask 'how' "-and in return they told me all about themselves and gave me food!" he sighed dreamily, and Lucy just knew he was remembering the food they gave him. "Good people."

"… Okay, right," Lucy said uncertainly and moved on. "So they're a club of people meeting to explore a mutual interest and passion, correct? Well, Laxus and I will need that." The blonde suddenly deflated. "But that means Laxus and I actually have to have something in common to meet up about. Something that's super specific too, or anyone could join and ruin the plan."

If there were two people in Fairy Tail who were complete opposites, Lucy Heartfilia and Laxus Dreyar had to be one of the top five contenders. Even their magic was in completely different categories. She used holder magic while Laxus' used caster magic.

"Do you guys both like something?" Natsu questioned uneasily, about as much as a loss that Lucy was.

What would just her and Laxus only like? Maybe the Lightning Dragon Slayer would be interested in starting up a weekly meeting knitting club? But when the celestial mage tried to imagine Laxus Dreyar with a pair of knitting needles and a half-made scarf, her mind blanked as if it couldn't even begin conjuring up the image. Lucy didn't notice her grip on Happy tighten, much to the protest of a suffocating Exceed. She also didn't notice Happy escape her arms.

"Laxus doesn't like anything at all!" Happy sang and swam over to the wall of the pool to climb out. He really did have a gift for putting things that were actually depressing in a cheerful light, and the Celestial Spirit mage grudgingly admitted to herself that he had a point. She had never seen Laxus take up a hobby nor partake in any of the guild's activities, and the only physical object he seemed to enjoy was his SoundPod. But even then he seemed to listened to music angrily.

"Well, you both had absent fathers who pressured you into doing something before you both snapped," the dragon slayer offered mercilessly.

Lucy sent a weak glare his way. "The guild is filled with absent fathers who could have done that sort of thing. At least half the guild would show up. Come on, give me something good."

Natsu ignored her glower, instead narrowing his own onyx eyes and studying his teammate. "You both…" his gaze zeroed in on her head. "You both have blonde hair."

Really? Their hair? "That won't…" Lucy paused and actually thought about it. "Hold on, that could actually work." Yes, this was good, this could become something. The guild members who didn't know her super well, like Laxus, already thought she was incredibly vain, so creating a day where she celebrated her own hair color could be believable. Mavis, she was vain, but she wasn't _that_ vain. She could pretend it was important to her and make a big deal of it too.

There was a beat of silence before an excited screech pierced the air. "We both have blonde hair!" Lucy grabbed the strands that had been plastered to her cheek and lifted it up to her eyes. Could something so simple as hair color be the key to getting Laxus to loosen up and laugh more? "Natsu! We _both have blonde hair_ , and no one else in the guild does!" Excluding First, whose astral body was at the moment back on Tenrou Island.

Laughter erupted from Happy, his paws stopping his attempt to push the bulky floatie off him to wipe away the gathering tears of mirth in his eyes. "You're gonna… g-gonna…" the Exceed could barely get anything ineligible out because of his glee. "B-Because you both have yellow hair?!"

Suddenly becoming defensive about her newfound, and now foolproof, plan, Lucy crossed her arms over her chest. Even Natsu looked offended on her behalf. Well, maybe not so much on her behalf as it was his idea that Happy was making fun of.

"Yeah, I am." Lucy harrumphed and slowly got her stiff body out of the pool. She climbed out and nabbed a towel before the cold could nip at her. "And I'm going to call it 'Blonde Day'." It was a start, and she didn't have any other options. "It'll be every, hm, Thursday! Today's Tuesday, right? That means I have a whole other day to convince him. I'll invite Laxus over to that café on the street across from mine, and we'll converse over lunch because it'll be Blonde Day, and the blondes of Fairy Tail need to stick together."

"That was really cheesy," Natsu said from behind her in the pool. The mage made his voice an octave higher, twirled his hair around his finger, and squeaked, "'Oh, Laxus! Don't cha' know we're both blondes, and blondes need to stick together!'." Overall, it was a pretty good impression, but he needed to work on adding twirling sparkles in his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lucy heavily exhaled as she wrapped herself up in the fluffy white towel, being extra careful not to put pressure on her impressive bruises or bandages. The blonde was just hoping that her plan was convincing enough. She side-eyed her teammate and teased, "You're just jealous that there's no one else in Fairy Tail who has pink hair, so you can't have a Pink Day."

"Salmon!" Natsu called out. He grouchily muttered something else, but Lucy didn't hear him through her laughter and Happy's frantic ' _where_?!'.

* * *

That night Lucy was still awake at the ungodly, horrible, wretched hour of three o'clock in the morning. She was on her stomach on the floor of her quiet and dark bedroom with her poofy pink quilt wrapped around her until she resembled an overstuffed burrito. Sprawled out along the floor were papers, each one written on and a few even had giant, blocky x's scratched across them. A spherical lacrima was placed on the ground next to her, shedding a bright glow on the materials below her.

The blonde's eyes were drooping -actually, her entire body was drooping- and she had a rapidly expanding, splotchy red spot on her left forearm from where she kept pinching herself to stay awake. Tired and crusty eyes scanned her newest page to search for imperfections and holes in her logic, and if the frustrated groan that spilled from her lips said anything, it said that she found some.

"It's no use!" Lucy groaned. She spent a few seconds wrangling up some energy before she flipped over onto her back with some noise that sounded like ' _oompfhshit_ '. The mage's eyes burned into the black ceiling, and she could feel her grip on reality slipping through her slender fingers.

For hours, ever since she got back from the pool, she's been hunched over papers, writing out plans and conversation topics she could ask Laxus. Location wise, she had every little detail mapped out. She had listed them in chronological order of pursuance and even separately in alphabetical order. She'd start out with cafes with a comfortable and unrushed atmosphere with no distractions before moving on to more public restaurants. After that the possibility of house-visits could be thrown into the mix, and then, finally, friendly conversing in the guild.

If Lucy could needle her way into Laxus' 'they're pretty okay' section of his heart, then she could strangle small smiles out of him. When everyone in the guild saw the smiles, perhaps they would try a little harder to get to know the Lightning Dragon Slayer too. Before he would know it, Laxus would be surrounded by comrades who could see past that grumpy and harsh exterior of his.

But there was a giant fallen tree in Lucy's friendship path. Though she was set on destinations to take the man, she couldn't come up with any mutual interests to talk about. Nothing. Zip. None. Lucy had a feeling he wasn't caught up in the newest trends of thigh-high leggings or liked to write or even knew enough about celestial spirits to get into a deep and intriguing discussion about them with her.

Much to her annoyance, her eyelids began closing. Lucy sighed and relaxed her body, the ground oddly comfortable. Why hasn't she ever slept on her floor before?

There was so much more preparation and scheduling involved and she hadn't even _started_ the 'befriend grumpy dragon slayer' plan. Not to mention that, realistically, befriending someone took months, even years. Becoming a person's _best_ friend would take even longer. But it was fine, because in the end it would be all worth it. All the frustrations and following late nights would be-

"-for Laxus," Lucy muttered sleepily before drifting off to sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic's going to be a long one, like around 100k or more long. The first six chapters (around 40k) have already been written. 
> 
> Even though I'm just posting this on AO3 to prevent stealing, I would still love to hear your thoughts if you have any. See you next week!


	2. Fumbling Failures (for Friendship)

_Chapter Two: Fumbling Failures (for Friendship)_

_'when in doubt, mumble'  
\- _ James Boren

_._

Shouts and beautifully crafted curses could be heard from outside the magnificent wooden doors that Lucy currently stared intensely at, hoping the ingrained wood would hold the solutions to all her problems. Her body ached from yesterday's mission and her shoulders were drooping a bit from her lack of sleep last night but other than that, Lucy looked as fresh and collected as ever. She had to be, she couldn't approach her target when she looked half dead. If she did, then he'd peg her unexpected invitation off as her being delusional from stifling exhaustion.

The blonde was shifting her weight from foot to foot, biding her sweet time and causing her keys to jingle at her hip while she tried not to pay attention to the panicky feeling in her stomach. Her fingers went back and forth between pulling at her yellow tank top and yanking her short pleated skirt. She had a mantra of ' _don't puke, don't puke on Laxus'_ running through her head, but it didn't seem to be helping her anxiety-created nausea.

She had gotten so anxious that morning that when she took another five minutes just to get out her door, Leo's key had started glowing, the lion spirit ready to use his own power to force his gate open. She had to stand in her doorway for at least half an hour as she talked to his golden key, repeating over and over that she was okay and she wasn't so nervous because she was injured or hurt. All she got for her troubles was a celestial being promising that he, and she quotes, ' _won't maybe perhaps appear_ ' when he senses her raging emotions again, and a few concerned looks from passersby.

So here she was. The blonde mage had been standing in front of the guild's doors for exactly six minutes now, much to the confusion and gawking of the afternoon crowd that sat behind her as they were served their meals. Some of them had even started betting on how long she would remain there in the summer heat.

Aiming a blood-curling glare at the doors as if they had wronged her in another life, Lucy clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white and she mentally prepared herself. Why was she so nervous? Today was no different from any other day, and though she had been joking around about it yesterday, it wasn't really like Laxus would shock her for approaching him. Mavis, the man wasn't cruel. She had never been this nervous before whenever the Lightning Dragon Slayer walked up to her to ask her a question, so she had no reason to get herself so worked up.

The lunch crowd didn't have to wait much longer, much to the extreme disappointed of the selected few who bet she would remain there for at least another three minutes.

Lucy smoothed out her skirt where she had created new wrinkles from pulling at it, brushed a hand through her bangs that fell on either side of her face, and took a deep breath. She pushed the grand doors open. In her edginess, it turned out that she might have put a little too much force behind the push, because the doors flew open and crashed against the wall on the other side with a deafening sound, effectively alerting every single member in the guild of her arrival.

As anticipated, everyone ceased what they were doing and heads of all hair colors swerved to the doors, and Lucy briefly twisted her fingers into her light white cardigan before she plastered a smile on her face and waved her hand. The blonde was met with a barrage of ' _morning!_ 's, ' _hey, lucy_!'s, and even a ' _dammit, where'd my shoes go?'_ , though that last one might not have been directed at her.

She walked in with a shining confidence that she didn't actually feel, and she pointedly didn't scan the corners of the guild less Laxus was there. If she made eye-contact with the grumpy dragon slayer now, then she might chicken out. The Celestial Spirit mage nodded and greeted a few of her friends as she made her way to the bar, and she playfully reminded Cana that though it was five o'clock somewhere, it wasn't here. Lucy only got a deadly glare -that lost some of its deadliness when the Magic Card mage started tilting at a worrying forty-five degree angle- and a declaration that if the blonde wasn't so cute, Cana would have sucker punched her for that comment.

After Lucy hopped onto the squeaky bar stool and kindly asked Kinana for a lemonade, the guild seemed to go back to normal. The noise quickly returned to the volume it had previously been before she entered as Elfman exuberantly shouted at Romeo, who stood on a wobbly chair so he could at least be level with the Take-Over mage's chest, to be a man and just punch him already.

Lucy sighed and looked up to the guild's ceiling when there was a dull, thudding noise and Romeo's evident cry of pain sounded. Elfman took no mercy on the teen, and he started to laugh proudly while the next contender stepped forward and readied a punch.

Stalling out her confrontation with the Lightning Dragon Slayer for as long as she could possibly manage, Lucy glanced around the rowdy first floor of the guild. There was only a small crowd today, but maybe it only seemed that way because Natsu wasn't here yet to create a brawl that would only increase the racket. The blonde watched as Gray stood in the middle of the guild and flipped over a table in search for his now missing pants, which he was instantly reprimanded for by Erza. By them were Jet and Droy, crowded together around a few sheets of paper with concentrated looks on their faces. They were probably writing down another cheer routine for Levy.

Wendy was situated down the bar from Lucy with Carla seated on the countertop beside her. The two seemed to be crafting something, for Wendy's tongue stuck out as she focused on weaving a string through a pretty purple bead. The tiniest slayer looked up when she felt eyes on her, and her face lit up when she saw it was Lucy. Wendy stopped her project and eagerly waved at her, to which Lucy returned with a smile.

"How are you feeling today, Lucy?" Wendy asked sweetly, though she had to raise her voice to get it across the distance between the two girls. The white Exceed merely took one look at the blonde, seemed satisfied with her recovery, and began her task again.

Lucy's tank top allowed every single bandage on her arms to be visible, and her cardigan certainly didn't help matters for it was a short-sleeved one. The celestial mage absentmindedly picked at one of the white wrappings as she said, "I'm doing much better thanks to you. You helped me so much."

The Sky Dragon Slayer blushed at the subtle praise before she went back to appearing worried. Her small brows furrowed adorably. "Is your back okay?"

Lucy couldn't hold back the grimace. Her back had been slammed into the stone wall yesterday, and the bruise was finally starting to bloom. This morning had been a painful one for her. When she got up, all the muscles in her back had protested and strained themselves. One glance from the mirror on her vanity table showed that her entire back looked like a painting done by a kindergarten who was positively obsessed with the colors purple and blue. Lucy had been hoping her cardigan covered it all so no one other than Wendy would know the true extent of her injuries.

"It's completely slavered in bruise cream, and my clothes are sticking to my back," she replied truthfully, leaving out the part that she couldn't slouch without sharp pain.

That seemed to satisfy young teen. With a surprisingly stern and serious voice, she told the blonde mage to reapply the cream every night and morning, and then she went back to her crafting.

Lucy idly made a mental note to herself to ask Wendy what she was working on later, before going back to watching the guild. A few more of her _nakama_ were around just simply talking and enjoying each other's company, which just reminded Lucy of the promise she had made in the pool. Wakaba was trying to show off his impressive smoke ring skills to Macao, but the man was too busy looking worriedly at his son who was still clutching his fist and writhing in pain on the ground. Lucy could even hear Gajeel somewhere in the background angrily yelling to few people about how yesterday, ' _a bastard tried to pickpocket Levy right in front of me, can ya believe it?!_ '

Lucy's attention was brought back when a tall glass of the lemonade she ordered was placed down on the bar counter in front of her by Kinana. The two females exchanged friendly greetings before Lucy was left alone with her drink, wondering where Mirajane was when Lucy needed her. The blonde ran her finger down the smooth glass and peered around for the eldest Strauss sibling, but she wasn't anywhere in sight. Mira talked to Laxus on a regular basis, she could have helped Lucy think of _something_ to chat about with the slayer.

Blowing a raspberry, Lucy begrudgingly stopped looking for the silver-haired beauty and sipped at her lemonade. She was being ridiculous. Maybe Mira's disappearance was a sign that Lucy had to do this by herself. She _could_ do this by herself. The Celestial Spirit mage tried to mentally reach deep down inside herself and pull out some of the confidence she was brimming with yesterday in the pool.

"You can do this, Lucy," she whispered to herself while she simultaneously hoped no one was around to hear her muttering to herself. "You are Lucy Heartfilia, and you love all your friends." This was for Laxus, and Lucy would rather have all her fingernails ripped off than watch Laxus continue to frown and act bitter around his family. With that horrible thought and a deep breath, she turned around in her seat and searched for her to-be friend.

It wasn't that hard to find the mage, Laxus had a tendency to stick out wherever he went even though that was the opposite of what he desired. Like usual, the Lightning Dragon Slayer was seated at a table near the farthest corner of the guild where he could observe everyone while staying out of the way. It was almost predictable. _He_ was becoming predictable.

The large man was resting his chin on his propped up hand and had his -by now, common- scowl twisting his lips down which made him look harsher than he actually was (the scar that ran across the right side of his face certainly didn't help matters either). He also donned his fur-trimmed coat that somehow magically (literally?) stayed over his shoulders and gave him an even broader appearance. Lucy would give it a 9/10 intimidation level, the lightning mage was, no doubt, a pro.

And Laxus wasn't the only one at the table. The _Raijinshū_ sat loyally around him, talking comfortably and frequently brushing up against each other as they used wide gestures. Whatever they were conversing about didn't seem exactly kid-friendly, because Bickslow was laughing hysterically, totems swirling madly around his shoulders, as Evergreen whacked his visor with her fan and Freed shrieked, "You just don't lift a _lady's_ skirt, especially when her husband is standing _right there!"._ Lucy could tell from the bar that Laxus was having no part in their conversation, he had his spiked headphones over his ears and his orange eyes were glazed over as he stared off in the direction of the guild's main stage.

This was her chance, though she had been hoping Laxus would be alone so she didn't have to stutter through her proposal with three extra pairs of eyes silently judging her actions. Lucy had to do this before Laxus got dragged into a conversation. After slapping down a few jewels on the countertop, she hopped off the barstool and started walking towards the boisterous group.

She only made it halfway to their crowded table before Freed brushed off his predominately maroon, double-breasted coat and attempted to reel Laxus into the discussion by pulling at the blonde's own coat. The poor Rune mage was only able to get three tugs in before Laxus, not even bothering to turn around and face his teammate, growled out a low, " _Stop that_."

Not only did Freed immediately drop his hold on Laxus' coat like it had suddenly burst into flames, but Lucy also pivoted on her heel and started walking back towards the bar.

 _Nope._ Lucy quickened her steps. _Nope, nope, no, definitely not happening_. Okay, so Laxus was significantly grumpier than usual, maybe it wouldn't be the best idea to bother him today. She could do it tomorrow, right? Lucy sighed as she plopped down at a table furthest from the _Raijinshū_ and their leader.

But she couldn't do it tomorrow. Tomorrow was Thursday, and she couldn't spontaneously invite the fellow blonde the day of, that would be rude. And if she tried to push back the date of Blonde Day, that meant they'd be going to the café during Friday or the weekend, also known as the busiest time of the week for the cute little restaurant she picked out.

She didn't know what to _do._ Lucy ignored the painful pull of her shoulder muscles as she slumped further into her seat and rested her forehead against the cool wood of the table. The Celestial mage spent minute after minute swimming in her own misery and tracing shapes into the table's surface with her fingers. Her despair got so bad that when Juvia walked by her, the Water mage gingerly patted her hair with a 'there, there' and placed a dark raincloud over her head before she continued making her way over to Gajeel to deliver the sweater she had knitted for Pantherlily.

Lucy had no choice, she had to talk to Laxus today and she had to do it soon. If she hung around awkwardly around the guild the entire day, people would get suspicious and start asking invasive and unwanted questions.

 _What's the worst that could happen?_ Lucy thought to herself and lifted her head up. He wasn't going to deck her for simply asking to meet up with him. The worse thing he could do was reject her plan, and if he did that, she could just keep asking him until he gave in. Not the ideal way to start a friendship, but if the two blondes had anything in common, it was their stubborn personalities.

… Wait.

Lucy shot right back up to her feet, causing the chair to scrape harshly back against the floor, and suddenly her mood -plus the gray cloud- was lifted. They… they had something in common that wasn't the color of their hair. The celestial mage began bouncing in place and could feel excited butterflies start to tumble around in her stomach. They were both stubborn! They _did_ share something in common, and Lucy _could_ befriend Laxus Dreyar with time. And who knew, maybe if Laxus would allow her to walk by his side, she would learn that they shared other qualities too.

Right then and there she promised herself that there would be no more childish whining. Though she was nervous and probably an awkward mess, there would be no more moaning or complaining or rainclouds provided by Juvia. Lucy wouldn't give up on Laxus, not today, and not ever. So what if she failed? There was always the next day.

With that inspiring thinking, she began making her way back to Laxus' table. She wasn't confident, but that was okay, as long as she tried. Not even the unconscious, barely clothed Gray Fullbuster who lied hazardously on the ground in her path could stop her -Erza must have gotten tired of his destructive attempts in finding his shirt and given him a punch. The blonde simply stepped over his body as Juvia called his name worriedly in the distance while she rushed forwards.

When Lucy was only a few yards from her destination, she raised her hand above her head, waved, and called out, "Hey, guys!" There was no turning back now. The celestial mage would see this through and not go back on her promise.

The _Raijinshū_ all lifted their heads and greeted her friendly when she stopped at their table, Bickslow giving her his customary up-and-down before he was smacked over the head again by Evergreen. There seemed to be a lot of smacking in their relationship, but Lucy couldn't judge, not with her being a member of her team anyways. Laxus didn't even bother to look up at her, he simply continued his glowering and grunted in acknowledgement of her presence. It wasn't exactly a warm hello, but at least it wasn't the glare he usually gave her pink-haired teammate.

Freed nodded, his green bangs that covered the right side of his face swaying slightly as he did. He folded his hands in his lap and asked politely, "Lucy, how have you been fairing this warm Wednesday afternoon? How did your solo mission play out?" At that, Lucy reflexively rubbed at one of her wrappings, and Rune mage immediately focused in on her arms. Still looked like nothing could escape Freed's keen observation skills. "Not so well?" He offered with a sympathetic look.

Lucy huffed and tugged at her cardigan. "If you think this looks bad, you should see my back. It has turned a gorgeous and daring shade of violet." Sleeping tonight would be horrible, she wasn't looking forward to it at all.

The _Raijinshū_ all graced her with the expected wince and, surprisingly, her statement seemed interesting enough to earn Laxus' attention. Though Lightning Dragon Slayer's head didn't turn, his eyes shifted towards her and took in her appearance. His orange eyes were as piercing as ever, and Lucy's breath hitched as she felt her stomach drop at his scrutiny.

"I'm okay, it's manageable!" Lucy rushed out too quickly. The blonde gulped, not knowing what to say next. Perhaps she should have planned this confrontation out a little more. Mavis, she should have practiced it out in the mirror or to her friends. Written it down on a few notecards? Dammit, she totally should have done that. "And I… I finished my mission easily!"

As soon as she said that, Laxus took his gaze off her and resumed staring at nothing. The blonde male was practically oozing boredom.

"Well, that's good," Freed said lamely after an awkward silence where no one knew how to respond. The Rune mage lifted up his hand to tug at the collar of his coat before he cleared his throat and inquired further, "Did you… did you need anything in particular?"

"Oh, um, yes." _They're looking at you expectantly, say something!_ Lucy twisted her, suddenly clammy, hands together behind her back and smiled shyly, one hundred percent aware of the blush that was rising to her flaming cheeks. "I, uh, actually came here talk to Laxus."

The blonde could tell she shocked the group because Evergreen's slender eyebrow rose elegantly, Freed guffawed, and Bickslow's mouth hung open enough for his stamped tongue to roll out. Was it that odd for someone to walk up to them and want to talk to Laxus?

The blonde dragon slayer turned completely and gave the celestial mage his full attention, something Lucy couldn't decide if she wanted or not. "What's wrong," The man said as shifted in his seat to sit up straighter. Yes, ' _said'_. There was no questioning tilt to that sentence.

Her eyes widened and it was that moment when Lucy realized she was wholly unprepared for this. As soon as the fellow blonde looked at her, her mind went blank with nerves. Somewhere in the back of her head she could hear the noise of static fizzling as her brain came up with nothing to say. "I… I, well," was all that ungracefully stumbled out of her mouth.

"Spit it out," the dragon slayer gruffed, eyes narrowing and nose twitching like he could smell her apprehension. And who knew, maybe he could. There was no patience in his voice, it was blunt and to the point. All in all, it was a glaring reminder that this was just the beginning and Lucy had a long ways to go before she could be worthy of being seen as a friend by Laxus Dreyar.

And also that she couldn't just 'spit it out', her head was too clouded and panicked to respond with a well-put, charming, _embarrassing_ invitation. "I… You know what, actually?" Her voice had definitely taken on a squeaky tone. The Celestial Spirit mage pointed her thumb somewhere behind her. "I think someone is calling my stove - I mean, I believe someone is calling me, not my stove." Her nervous laughter wasn't helping her at all. "Who could call a stove, am I right?"

After letting out a noise that sounded suspiciously close to a whimper, Lucy fled the scene, leaving her dignity folded neatly behind her along with her sense of pride.

"That was weird." Cheeks positively burning, Lucy could hear Bickslow's comment as she ran away. Her shoulders hunched inwards in mortification as she overheard Evergreen and Freed murmur in agreement. At least Laxus didn't say anything or else she would have died right there and then. Just disperse into a million Lucy particles, and then everyone would blame Gildarts for an act he didn't commit.

Lucy was sprinting by the time she got to the, thankfully, empty bar. Wendy and Carla must have left when Lucy was digging her own grave back there at Laxus' table. The blonde hopped onto a stool and immediately proceeded to reach out and grip the other side of the countertop with a force that made her knuckles turn white. She was positive that her entire face was a startling red color, it felt hotter than Natsu's flames.

In this position, her head was centimeters away from the counter, and she tried to bore a hole in it with her stare. If she made it big enough, she could crawl away inside it and never come out. Now that she was thinking about it, when she got home she could call upon Virgo and have the constellation dig her a hole to somewhere far, far away so she would never have to face _them_ again. She had completely _butchered_ it back there.

Turning her head and placing her cheek on the counter, not caring that it was dirty and gross, Lucy sighed and paid no attention to the painful stretching in her back and instead focused on the small pool of ketchup that laid inches away from her nose. So, that encounter hadn't exactly gone over well, and now Laxus probably thought she was a blushing weirdo. The worst part was that she had to approach them again sometime today and reattempt to invite Laxus to Blonde Day. The celestial mage had made a promise, and Laxus didn't deserve to remain flighty or feel left out in the guild because Lucy got easily discouraged and ran away.

What Lucy needed was some help, but from whom she didn't know.

"Lucy?" Came a beautiful, lovely voice from above as if her pleas had been answered. "Are you alright? Did something happen on your mission?"

The blonde slowly lifted her head up and took in the appearance of the ethereal angel that must have descended from heaven in order to help her with her troubles. Mirajane, clad in her usual stunning maroon dress with a white towel over her shoulder and her bangs lifted up with a hairband, stood on the other side of the bar in front of the celestial mage with both of her hands on her hips and a concerned, motherly look in her cerulean blue eyes. Lucy could have sworn that holy light was shining down upon the S-Class mage, and that an angelic choir was hitting its harmonious high notes in the background.

Lucy couldn't hold back the sniffle. "Mira," she elongating her savior's name as her voice took on a wobbling pitch. She was so ecstatic to see the oldest Strauss sibling that tears were starting to well up in her eyes, and she didn't have enough energy to wipe them away.

It was like Lucy had flipped a switch in the Take-Over mage. The concern in Mira's eyes was quickly replaced by a ferocious protectiveness when she spotted the mage's tears and the sheer multitude of bandages wrapped around the curvy blonde's body. The woman went into 'Mama Bear' mode, and Lucy was left ungainly slumping on the countertop like the unworthy sack of failures she was.

Mira put her hands on the bar top and leaned herself forward, leaving Lucy to crane her neck at an uncomfortable angle to meet her gaze. Fire danced in the older woman's eyes, and Mira gently covered her hands over Lucy's. "Who did this to you?" She hissed with the heat of a thousand suns. Mira didn't say the words 'who do I need to kill', but for some reason it felt heavily implied.

Lucy paused and blinked. Who did this to her? The celestial mage's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, no, no!" She rushed and brought out her hands from under Mira's to pat the Take-Over mage's wrists. "No one did this to me!... Well, someone did this to me-" at the Strauss sibling's darkening face, Lucy backtracked "-but he's back in jail now, I took care of him! I'm fine, I'm not hurt, I promise."

Mira searched her eyes, and she must have seen the honesty in them because she relaxed considerably and pulled herself away. "So why are you so down in the dumps?" Mira's smile was quick to return, and she beamed brightly at the younger woman. "Did you not earn enough money for your pesky rent?"

If Lucy hadn't known Mira for so long, then she would have gotten whiplash from the quick change of personalities. "No, I got that. It's actually something else…" Lucy let her voice drift away as she turned around in her seat and glanced all around her. "But it's kind of a secret that only me, Happy, and Natsu know, so I can't say it out loud with so many people around." No one was looking their direction, but there were currently two dragon slayers in the guild, one of them being the blonde who definitely couldn't overhear her. There was a high chance that they were already listening in.

Mischievous sparks lit up in Mira's eyes at the prospect of learning a new secret, and the mage clapped her hands together joyfully. Along with gossip and relationship statuses, Mirajane hoarded secrets like it was her sole duty in life. "Don't you worry, Lucy," she reassured her eagerly. "Just follow me!"

Lucy was given no time to take in Mira's words. The blonde's right hand was instantly snatched up by Mira's, and the silver-haired mage started running to the end of the bar. With a painful yank, Lucy could only yip and stumble after her while huffing, "Wait, wait, what are you doing? Where are we going?!"

The celestial mage honestly didn't expect an answer, and she didn't get one. Instead, Mirajane pulled her up the three stairs and pushed a gawking blonde carefully into the shower room of all places. Fortunately no one was using the room, or else the situation would have gotten awkward.

The Take-Over mage slammed the door closed behind them, locked it, and then rushed over to turn on four shower stalls. Shower heads spluttered on and the deafening noise of water smacking the tiles below engulfed the room. Satisfied, the older woman wiped her hands on the towel over her shoulder and put her hands back on her hips again.

"Go on," Mira's eyes were positively sparkling as she walked closer to Lucy. For dramatic effect, the silver-haired mage peeped to her right and left even though she knew no one was there before leaning in and whispering, "What's the secret? You know you can tell me anything, Lucy."

And Mira was right, Lucy could tell her all her secrets and rest assure that Mira wouldn't tell anyone else, though she might drop some mysterious and cryptic hints to the people involved in said secrets. So the blonde leaned closer herself and admitted, "I'm trying to invite Laxus over to the Strawberry Street Café tomorrow." She quickly adverted her eyes when she revealed, "I tried to already and failed. Oh, Mira, I was just one big blubbering mess!"

Mirajane's eyes blinked before a wave of pure euphoria descended over her pretty features. Her arm came up to press the back of her hand to her forehead as if she was feeling light-headed. Lucy was going to asked if the other mage was okay, but Mira cut her to the chase when she crooned, "You're going to ask Laxus on a date?"

It took a moment or two for Mirajane's words to register. But after they did... " _What_?" Lucy squeaked back, dumbfounded. A _date_? With _Laxus_? Were her own ears getting hot? Were her _ears_ blushing now too? "No, no, not that, Mira!" The blonde's hands fluttered in front of her when she reached out and she _almost_ grabbed the Strauss sibling by her shoulders to shake her. She held herself back for the sole reason that it looked like one light touch would send Mirajane falling to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Her friend began frantically fanning herself, her hands nearly a blur as her blue eyes glazed over and doubtlessly began envisioning blonde haired babies. "You… you and Laxus… Laxus and you…" Lucy had lost her.

"Mira, please listen!" Lucy begged before the Take-Over mage started sprouting out ideas for wedding themes. "It's not like that! It's… well…" The blonde twirled one of her bangs around her index finger and shifted restlessly. How could she put this?

At Lucy's adorable, nervous gestures, Mira calmed down. With a soft expression, she focused back on the precious celestial mage before her. "What is it, Lucy?" She questioned fondly as she absentmindedly fixed her own hair. The steam from the running showers was starting to poof it up.

Lucy straightened and set her jaw. "I want to become Laxus' friend!" She declared adamantly.

A pause. "But, Lucy, you already are Laxus' _nakama_ ," Mira said, tilting her head in confusion.

"No, I want to become his _close_ friend." Lucy, in her embarrassment at the confession, stared hard at the white, sparkling tiles below her. Would what she say next sound too childish or mushy? "I… I want to be able to talk to him and get him to smile and open up. I want him to know that everyone in Fairy Tail truly respects and accepts him. If I can get him to open up to me, then he can open up to everyone else, and he can be so much happier. Is that," The blonde hesitated and finally lifted her head to meet Mirajane's gaze, "is that too naïve?"

Lucy was shocked to see _tears_ start collecting in Mira's blue eyes. The other mage placed a hand over the top of her chest as she spoke, "Oh, _Lucy_." There was so much fondness and affection in those two words that Lucy felt her face heating up again. Mirajane carefully grabbed the other woman's arms, mindful of her injuries, and reassured, "No, no, that is not too naïve. It's lovely, and it is so _you_."

The celestial mage was going to ask what she meant, but Mirajane cut her off again. "I will help you with whatever you need," she promised with a stern nod while wiping her eyes. "Just say the word, and I'll be at your beck and call." Mira smiled cheekily, eyes still all watery. "Sort of like your spirits."

"You will?" Lucy's smile was so bright, she was sure sunlight was seeping out from the pores of her face. She had Mira on her side! Lucy would only ask for suggestions, though, and she would never make Mira do the work for her. If she did, than she wouldn't deserve Laxus' hard-earned friendship.

"Yes, I will. So what's the first step, what can I help with first, boss?" The silver-haired beauty winked.

The blonde giggled at the title and reached forwards to clasps Mira's hands in her own. Lucy felt like she could jump over the moon. With Mira, she just couldn't fail. "The plan is to invite him over to a café every Thursday so we can get to know each other better," Lucy explained. "I'm going to say it's because it's 'Blonde Day', obviously a day for blondes to celebrate being blonde. " Suddenly nervous, the smaller mage stuttered out, "Does that... does that sound okay?"

Mirajane paused and took a moment to mull it over, perfectly styled eyebrows furrowing in thought. After a few seconds, the Take-over mage nodded slowly. "That sounds just fine, and sneaky," Mira added and squeezed their hands. "A little ridiculous sounding, but somehow perfect."

"Exactly!" Lucy agreed. "But the problem is that I don't know how to ask him." She took a few minutes to recall to the fellow mage her horrific failures earlier that day, and she nearly stomped out of the shower room when Mira began teasing her about being so flustered in front of the Lightning Dragon Slayer.

After the blonde was done retelling her disasters, Mira let go of the celestial mage's hands and brushed hers against the sides of her dress. Mira took a moment to think to herself and absorb all the information that was thrown at her, and then she grinned wickedly. "Oh, _I_ know how you should ask him."

Lucy knew that look, and it was one that didn't bode well for either her or Laxus. The mage lifted a brow and asked a little cautiously, "Without force or threats?" Mirajane had this habit of dragging an exasperated and unwilling Laxus behind her when she needed to talk to him about guild matters or get him and Elfman to reach something on the highest shelf.

"Without force or threats," Mira promised, but the blonde still eyed her warily.

Okay, she'll bite. "How, then?"

"Listen up and listen carefully, my dear." Mira brought up her index finger to point at Lucy's face before she lectured, "Laxus is a man who respects confidence and appreciates a person who talks bluntly. He hates having to sort through subtle hints or subtext." The Take-Over mage smile turned devilish. "Don't worry, Lucy. Just listen to me and I'll teach you how to _handle_ -" Lucy started sweating when she put so much emphasis on the word 'handle' "-men like Laxus Dreyar."

Lucy gulped, and though she started to get a feeling that said she was signing up for more than she was bargaining for, she nodded her head and said, "I'm listening."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: *EDIT* The update schedule will be moved to Fridays for reasons.


	3. Bumpy Blonde Beginnings

_Chapter Three: Bumpy Blonde Beginnings_

_'optimism_ – _is_ _a_ _lack_ _of_ _information'_

_._

As Lucy sauntered her way towards Laxus' table, she could hear Mirajane's advice echoing in her head. The older woman had told her to be firm, and don't take no for an answer or else Laxus would sense her hesitation and use that against her. Lucy also had to just blurt out her intentions instead of becoming a stuttering mess and wasting his time. When Mira had revealed this to her, the blonde had shrank back in humiliation because she had done exactly that.

Lucy could still remember the saucy wink the silver-haired woman had given her as she instructed the Celestial Spirit mage not to reveal that she was inviting him to Blonde Day, but to make it seem like it was an important meeting that was crucial for the Lightning Dragon Slayer to attend. When Lucy had asked if that was lying, Mirajane had waved her hand and said she wasn't lying, just withholding the entire truth. ' _It technically is an important get-together._ _Blonde Day is important to you, isn't it?_ ' Mira had slyly shot back, that sneaky woman.

The blonde hopped down the few stairs to the lower platform and zeroed in on her target. Laxus was still slumping against his table and appearing like he was wishing for the sweet release of death, _Raijinshū_ seated around him arguing about Mavis knows what. Lucy couldn't hold back a quiet snort at that. It was like they hadn't even moved in inch. Is that what they did all day? Waste time sitting around and arguing with each other?

Her mind instantly reminded her of just yesterday when Natsu and her were getting out of the guild's pool. As soon as the pink-haired dragon slayer climbed out of the water, they got into an intense argument over who had to right over the last towel. Lucy had needed it to wrap her hair with, and Natsu wanted the towel to complete with his towel-toga setup. The fight ended with Lucy and Natsu both exchanging spitting insults from the two separate palm trees that Happy had dropped them in to stop the two mages from lunging at each other when Lucy was so sore.

Lucy halted her steps. Okay, so maybe she had no right to say the _Raijinshū_ were wasting their time.

Shaking her head, the celestial mage resumed walking towards Laxus. Okay, so she just had to tell him exactly what she needed right off the bat, no awkward talks about people calling her appliances or anything. That was easy, right? Easy-peasy. She ignored the sweat starting to form along her brow as she got closer.

The four mages were too focused on each other to notice her approach until she was only a few feet away from them. They were all turning their heads toward the Celestial Spirit mage, Evergreen and Bickslow halting their conversation about who'd be able to seduce the mayor of Magnolia faster, when Lucy 'spat it out', "Laxus, we need to talk."

Saying the demand out loud without the mumbling or the spluttering felt so good that Lucy was able to scrap together enough confidence to put a hand on her hip and stare firmly down at the Lightning Dragon Slayer. The surprised gawks she got from the _Raijinshū_ only fueled her. She allowed Laxus to lift his head and blink heavily before she continued, "Can we meet up tomorrow at three o'clock at the Strawberry Street Café? It's important."

Laxus didn't answer right away, instead his orange eyes immediately sharpened as they flicked over her facial features, studying her as if he was searching for something. Maybe the fear or hesitation Mira had warned the Celestial Spirit mage about? Lucy _almost_ said something when his spiked headphones slid down his ears to dangle from his shoulders and the man didn't make a move to right them. Laxus just kept eyeing the fellow blonde with an unreadable look.

Lucy was proud of herself when she only twitched, and there was a pregnant pause -the Raijinshū uncharacteristically silent as they held their baited breaths- while the dragon slayer leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his wide chest. He gave her a single nod and a blasé, "Okay, sure."

The smaller blonde thought she deserved a shiny gold trophy or at least a medallion for the way she reeled in her instant reaction of screeching her exuberant excitement to the entire guild. Lucy checked her chin and brought up her hand to point a finger at the slayer, to which his eyebrow quirked up at. "Don't forget," she warned in a stern voice that she herself was shocked at. Where was all this courage coming from?

The Lightning Dragon Slayer's upper lip twitched, and Lucy could tell he was acting when he smoothed his face into a deadly serious expression. The blonde even went so far as raising his closed fist and popping out his pinky finger. "I won't, _pinky promise_." He was messing with her now, but at least he had, somewhat unknowingly, agreed to Blonde Day.

The celestial mage had no idea what could have possibly possessed her body and made her lean over the table, probably giving everyone at the table a fantastic view of her chest. Before she could fully comprehend what she was doing, Lucy reached out her hand and hooked her own pinky around his. Lucy nearly squirmed away when her face was suddenly inches from Laxus', and she couldn't help but distractedly think, _where his eyebrows always this thick?_

It was only because of their closeness that Lucy could see the slight widening of Laxus' eyes, a clear indicator that he also had no clue why she had made such a bold move. His shock was quickly covered up, and the larger man rolled his eyes, jerking their twined hands down as he did. "Three o'clock. Got it, Blondie."

Without further ado, she huffed out a single 'good', whirled back, spun around, and walked away, silently shrieking. The piercing screams inside her head drowned out any other thoughts, and Lucy was sure that if Warren was inside the guild, the mage would have collapsed, unconscious, on the floor from the sound barriers she was mentally breaking.

She had done it, she had _ordered Laxus Dreyar_ _to do something!_ And not only did she not get thrown into a wall for her rudeness, but he had also said ' _okay'_. Was she dreaming? Did Kinana put something in her lemonade from earlier? Was this all illusionary magic? Surely this couldn't be real life, because Laxus had said ' _yes_ '!

Lucy felt like she could soar. The best part was that _she hadn't even said 'please'_! The blonde mage strolled over to the bar in a daze, and even the pain from all her bruises and scrapes seemed to dissipate in the high she was riding. Lucy bet if someone nailed her with a flying chair, she wouldn't even feel a thing.

When the Celestial Spirit mage unthinkingly hopped onto the barstool, it was only Mira's teasing voice that snapped Lucy out of her stupor, "So, did it go well? What did Laxus say to Blonde Day?" The older woman was seemingly vibrating in her place, trying to at least make an effort to hold herself back from going on a tangent that included such words like 'starstruck' and 'blonde toddlers'.

The celestial mage froze in her tracks. Panic rising in her throat, Lucy gasped, " _Shh_ , Mira!" Lucy flailed her hands in front of the Take-Over mage's face as if that would stop her. Her voice lowered into a harsh whisper, " _Mira_ , he'll hear!" Her head whipped back and forth, expecting the lightning mage to pop out of nowhere and start interrogating her, and she only narrowly avoided tumbling off her seat.

Shaking her head, the silver-haired mage tsked and put a hand on her cocked hip. Mirajane chided, "I would never be so reckless when it comes to something so important to you, you know better than to think that. They left, Lucy, when you were walking over here." Mira's other hand lifted and pointed to somewhere behind Lucy. "And Gajeel ran out of here while you were talking with Laxus, shouting something about checking a calendar?"

The younger woman turned around in her seat again and quickly saw that Mira was right, the table she had just been at was empty and barren. And apparently not only had Laxus left, but also Gajeel. So that meant that all the dragon slayers were officially absent in the guild, and no one would be able to overhear them. Now that the danger had passed, Lucy slumped with relief. She glanced pitifully up at the other mage and wobbled out a pitiful, "I'm sorry."

Luckily, Mira wasn't offended and the model tucked a stray hair behind her ear as she smiled gently. " _So_ ," she drawled the word out with a sing-song tilt to her voice. "How did it go?!" Mirajane's eyebrows waggled suggestively, and Lucy couldn't help the small snicker that escaped her lips at the action.

Hugging her torso, Lucy jerked her head up and down, and her bubbling joy was quick to return. She was so happy that she felt like grabbing Mirajane's hands and dancing with her in the middle of the guild. Lucy had so much energy that the could go on dancing for _hours_. "Oh, Mira," she started shaking from excitement on her barstool. "I did exactly what you told me, and he said yes!"

Mirajane loved seeing the light of Fairy Tail grinning from ear to ear, Lucy's happiness truly made her happy. She smiled kindly down at the stellar mage and she bent over the bar to rest on her elbows. "I'm glad for you, Lucy," she told the blonde truthfully. Mira tilted her head a little to the right and asked, "Do you have anything planned for Blonde Day?"

Lucy's lips slowly twitched down into a flat line at the question. "What do you mean?" The younger mage said it slowly, confused. She had already told Laxus the location, it was at the Strawberry Street Café. What more could she plan?

The silver-haired model side-eyed her while she straightened and began to pick up some of the abandoned wooden mugs that were scattered across the bartop. "Well, Lucy, what you are going to do when you two meet up at your little café? Just talk?" Mira questioned with a small chuckle, and Lucy had a feeling that if her arms weren't full of mugs, Mira would have been patting her head in an amused, motherly manner.

The blonde mage started sweating again for the third time that day. "I… hnrgh…" she said intelligently. That's exactly what she was going to do.

Mirajane halted her cleaning, staring at Lucy and taking in the younger woman's uncomfortable and nervous shifting.

Lucy leaned backwards on the barstool from Mirajane's stare, immensely relieved that her white cardigan wouldn't show off the rapidly expanding sweat stains forming under the arms. Mira's gaze was almost as piercing as Laxus'. Should she make a break for it? Should she hide behind Erza, or would the scarlet-haired woman also judge her for whatever reason that currently made Mira attempt to peer into Lucy's soul with that intense cerulean stare?

As soon as Lucy decided she would run, the other mage completely shocked her by bursting into a fit of bubbling giggles. The blonde was left openly gaping at the unexpected action while Mirajane began laughing so hard that she had to put down the mugs. Mira lifted a slender hand of hers up to her mouth to hide the snickers, but when she saw Lucy's reaction she erupted into another fit and had to lift her hand to cover her eyes so she couldn't see the Celestial Spirit mage's silly face.

When the older mage was done with her little fit, she reached out to bop a, still very bewildered, Lucy on the nose. "You can't just talk to him!" Mira had to stop and collect herself when she almost started laughing again.

"Wha… Why not?" Lucy inquired warily as her hands griped the edge of the bartop. "How am I going to get to know him if we do not talk about ourselves? Will that not work?!" She screeched and was seconds from reaching out and grabbing onto her _nakama_ and beg for the solution to a problem she wasn't even aware of yet.

Looking down on her with strangest mixture of fondness and patronizing, Mira tutted and shook her head. The finger that had tapped Lucy's nose waved from side to side in Lucy's face, which made the blonde go cross-eyed from trying to follow it. "Lucy, you out of anyone understands from experience that to make close friends, two people have to go through a lot of stuff together."

Mira ruffled the celestial mage's hair, and all the while Lucy felt a strong desire to get this all down in writing. "You'll get to know Laxus better by watching how he reacts to different scenarios than you will with him telling you about himself. Actions speak louder than words, you know. Plus," she added sagely, "anyone who's anyone can lie when they talk about themselves."

"You're so knowledgeable," Lucy whispered, stunned. She hadn't even thought about it that way. Originally she'd been hoping that Laxus would open up to her as time went by, but what if he never did if all they did was chat to each other a few hours a week? Was Blonde Day not enough?

Biting her lip, Lucy whispered, "What do I do now? I already invited Laxus to the café, and I can't just randomly ask him to grocery shopping with me or go to a fair. Mira, what do I do?" The blonde bemoaned and started sagging. This was the second time she needed Mirajane's help today, and Lucy was starting to feel bad about it.

The silver-haired beauty stopped messing up Lucy's hair and started patting her head instead, just like Lucy had predicted a minute ago. "Hush, hush, no whining. This is a simple fix!" Mira chimed optimistically. She got in a couple more pats until she was satisfied. "Just make sure you bring a deck of cards for when the conversation starts to dwindle, it'll help get rid of that beginning awkwardness. See? Simple fix."

Her advice didn't stop there, and now Lucy's fingers were really itching to scribble all of these priceless words down on a sheet of paper. "And then maybe when you and Laxus get to know each other better…" Mira's sentence drifted off and there was a certain light in her eyes that was identical to the one she had in the shower room. "... You two can go on walks or shop or have movie nights together! Alone!" The other mage finished with a flourish.

That was nice and platonic, right? Lucy perked up. Okay, she could do that. It wasn't the plan she initially had, but actually this one might be more fun! "I like that," the blonde said it out loud before beaming at the other mage. Doing stuff with Laxus sounded a lot more exciting than sitting in one place and making small talk. She could totally do this.

Suddenly overcome with gratefulness, the blonde shouted, "Ah, thank you, thank you, Mira!" She flung her arms forwards to wrap them around the Mirajane's neck, causing the Take-Over mage to laugh when she was pulled over the countertop that laid between them.

Mira gave Lucy a quick squeeze before she pulled away with stars sparkling in her eyes. "Go get him, Lucy!" She cheered.

After Lucy laughed and waved goodbye, she took off for the front doors of the guild before anyone could stop and delay her. She only had twenty-four hours to craft a completely different strategy to winning over Laxus' friendship, and she couldn't wait to get started on it. But first, she needed to buy a deck of cards.

She was going to do this. Lucy had a better plan now thanks to Mira, so now there was no need to worry or panic about tomorrow.

* * *

Lucy was not ashamed to admit that later that night she had called Levy in a panic, the celestial mage practically hyperventilating over the communications lacrima as she tried to get out complete, grammatical sentences to no avail. All that had come out was hysterical, dry sobs and the name of one of her close friends.

Apparently Levy had assumed the worst because the next thing Lucy knew, the petite Solid Script mage had ditched the pizza in the oven that she had been making that night and had hightailed it to the blonde's apartment at seven o'clock. Lucy was given no time to prepare for Levy's arrival because the moment the smaller mage had gotten to her home, she had materialized into existence a key that fit any lock and kicked the door off its hinges with adrenaline-created strength.

Lucy had been standing in the middle of her living room, holding up two dresses from their appropriate hangers and gawking as she took in her friend (and her demolished door while it slid across the room, the metal bars scraping and tearing up her floor. Levy had already made the magical key, why had she felt the need to destroy her poor door?). With her orange headband sliding off, clothes wrinkles, and glowing red cheeks that revealed the fact that the blunette had sprinted there, Levy looked both frazzled and a force to be reckoned with, especially with the ferocious glint in her eyes.

It had taken half an hour to reassure Levy that, no, Lucy hadn't been attacked by a gang of mobsters or was bleeding out on her kitchen floor after a horrendous accident that involved reading a book while chopping up some vegetables. Lucy had to embarrassingly admit that she had called the Solid Script mage, losing it, because she had spent the past two hours trying to figure out what to wear the next day like a stereotypical fifteen year old girl.

The blonde had just been trying to decide between a blue or yellow sundress when the stress of ruining everything tomorrow had made her snap. The Celestial Spirit mage had done some amazing dodging as to the reason _why_ she was dressing up the next day that would have made Laxus proud. Levy couldn't get anything out of her, Lucy was like a steel trap.

After that, the night only continued its spiral into chaos. Not an hour later a crazed looking Gajeel shoulder tackled her door and soared into her apartment as if he had the wings of an eagle. Unfortunately for the large man, he hadn't known that the door had already been blown off its hinges that night, or that the two females had placed it precariously leaning against the threshold as if nothing had ever happened. Instead of just lightly pushing the door down (or, _heavens forbid_ , using it correctly and figuring out that it was a separated piece now), Gajeel had used an incredible amount of force and his entire right side.

Levy and Lucy could only observe from the couch as the dragon slayer flew through her apartment with her door, skidded across the rug at a grimacing-inducing speed, and finally came to a stop when he smashed into her furthest wall. Levy rushed to his -completely rug burned- side while Lucy bemoaned over the fact that her landlady would slit her throat after she saw the damages. The celestial mage was only able to complain for a short, two minutes before Levy ordered her to go grab her extensive first aid kit.

It turned out that Gajeel had snuck into Levy's dorm room for dinner, only to stumble upon the scene of smoke engulfing her entire dorm and her abandoned pizza smoldering in the oven. He had immediately believed the worst possible outcome and had tracked her scent trail to Lucy's apartment. More time had passed as the two female mages convinced Gajeel that, no, Levy hadn't been kidnapped by a dark guild or was suffocating to death after having an entire bookcase fall upon her tiny frame.

The two females had just convinced Gajeel that Levy was okay when Pantherlily flew into Lucy's living room through the giant gaping hole in her wall known as her doorway, announcing that he had visited Levy's dorm looking for Gajeel only to find his scent intermingling with a heavy sheet of smoke coming from the blunette's kitchen (" _Gajeel, you didn't take care of the pizza_?!" Levy had gasped, horrified). Lily had tracked him here after alerting Erza of the section of Fairy Hills that was currently 'on fire'.

It only got worse when Natsu and Happy appeared out of nowhere and tackled Lucy to the floor, blubbering about how they had overheard Lily frantically informing Erza about Levy's blazing dorm and had immediately come to the conclusion that there was a pyromaniac criminal in Magnolia that was targeting Fairy Tail's female wizards, and obviously Lucy would have been their next target. They had ceased their whimpering though as soon as the Fire Dragon Slayer, nostrils flaring, laid his sight upon Gajeel and sniffed out the smoke clinging to his form.

One assumption led to another and then the two dragon slayers were duking it out in Lucy's home, Natsu yelling something about how Gajeel was -once again, _obviously_ \- being controlled by some sick bastard and had been forced to turn dark side and burn down Levy's dorm room.

Punches flew, furniture was destroyed, and Lucy had been left sitting on her couch with her head in her hands as she imagined jewel signs slip away through her fingers while Levy comfortingly rubbed her back. The Solid Script mage had soothed her with the fact that the chance that Lucy would get her safety deposit back had long since passed, practically in the first week of her tenancy. This didn't help the blonde at all for instead of cheering up, Lucy curled up into a tighter ball of despair.

For some reason even more people had turned up at Lucy's apartment that night. Erza had stopped by to brake up the fight, the Master had popped out of nowhere to talk to Levy about the smoke damage done to her home, Jet and Droy had sailed in, frantic, searching for Levy, and even Elfman had shown up. Unlike the others, Elfman had no reason to be there at Lucy's apartment. He just was, and no one questioned it.

By midnight, Lucy had wept five times and had received seven dishes filled with lasagnas, green bean casseroles, stroganoff, and even a frittata. There had been a little mix up and now nearly half of the guild believed _her_ apartment had been burned down in the process of the blonde fighting off a gangster mob of mages from a disbanded dark guild.

* * *

Fifteen hours, a portion of that frittata, and two cups of coffee later, Lucy was sitting at the table in her street's café in her flowing blue sundress. The blonde couldn't tell if her hands were trembling with nerves or the significant amount of caffeine she had ingested that morning. She had everything planned. She had even carefully chosen their seating arrangements; a nice table near the rear of the restaurant where Laxus could sit with his back to a wall and a good view of the rest of the little building. So why was she still so nervous?

She had been waiting an entire day for this moment. A day filled with pacing and stress shopping (the two neon blue shopping bags underneath her chair proved this shameful truth) and begging Cana to teach her some card games. All day Lucy had been sweating through her clothes or having mini heart attacks at the thought that Laxus wouldn't show, and now the time had finally come.

The Lightning Dragon Slayer was seated across from her in the café known as Strawberry Street Café. It wasn't the most creative name, but their pastries were to die for. Literally. The first time Lucy had taken Erza here, the Requip mage was only a mere second away from snapping and massacring everyone in the building when the poor, shaking employee told her that they had already given her their last piece of strawberry cake that day and that there was no more. Lucy now always called through a communications lacrima to check if they had at least a whole cake prepared before Erza came over again.

Lucy watched Laxus get situated in his chair, almost frozen in surprise that the man had actually come. The celestial mage blinked, tempted to wipe her eyes with her hands and pinch her arms to see if this was real or not. As she looked up to peer at her _nakama'_ s face, she was also abruptly reminded of the… _physical differences_ between the two blondes. She had forgotten the tiny -no, _large_ \- detail that Laxus was unbelievably tall and... _and wide_. When the dragon slayer had entered the café and approached their table, Lucy nearly got a nick in her neck from tilting her head up.

And up.

Even sitting down and ungainly sprawling in his seat he seemed to tower over her. How that was possible, Lucy didn't know, it was just fact of life. The blonde man was at least a head and a half taller than her. She only went up to his mid chest, and every part of his body she laid her eyes on was corded with thick muscle. She idly wondered if his boots added to his height.

Lucy didn't see the annoyed frown Laxus sent her, and she was only hauled out of her inner thinking when the slayer reached over the table and loudly snapped two fingers in front of her nose. Laxus pulled back his hand, tucked it into his fur-trimmed coat's pocket, and barked out, "Oi, stop ogling my goods, Blondie."

Jumping in her chair, Lucy let out a small, surprised shriek, to which Laxus rolled his eyes at. Realizing she hadn't even greeted him yet, Lucy splayed out her hands in front of her and hurried out an apology, "Oh my Mavis, I'm so sorry! I'm so glad you came, thank you for being here!" Lucy smiled sheepishly, definitely ignoring the part of her that wanted to flee the scene while she still could and save herself from the horrible embarrassment and sardonic eyebrow raising that was sure to follow.

He nodded and appeared bored as he easily breezed out, "By the way, you have my condolences."

... Okay. That had definitely not been one of things she thought he would say right of the bat... His condolences? Why on Earthland would he be giving her his condolences? Lucy slanted her head to the side and tried searching the man's face for clues, but Laxus was practically a clean, emotionless slate. And why did he make it sound like that was a huge honor that was being bestowed upon her? She felt strangely compelled to frame his 'condolences' to show them off to everyone else.

She didn't have the time to ask, Laxus steamrolled over her, "I heard from Freed about your apartment burning down last night as an act of revenge from the husband of the dark guild's master you captured during your solo mission." His nonchalant mask slipped enough to show an ounce of pity.

All Laxus got from the female blonde was a gape. He didn't seem to mind though because he took his hands out of his pockets and braced his forearms on the table while he continued, "Evergreen wanted me to tell you that she would have invited you to stay in her guest room until you found another god-awful pink infested place, but she recently got a shipment of new stone statues and stored them in that room."

She stared unabashedly at him. The Celestial Spirit mage couldn't figure out what to focus on and tackle first; the part where Laxus apparently heard wind of the rumors that had been flying around last night, or the part where she had just heard the largest spiel of words from the fellow blonde in the three years she's known him. Laxus was just about to add something else but before he could, Lucy squinted her eyes at him and confessed, "I cannot for the life of me tell if you're kidding or not."

Laxus didn't even twitch. He gave nothing away. The air around them lapsed into a long silence as they watched each other with unwavering gazes. Lucy literally had no idea what was going on in that head of his, she was utterly clueless. Was he serious? Did he actually believe that her apartment burned down? Or was he messing with her again and trying to get a rise out of her? And what the hell did he _mean by 'god-awful pink infested place'?_

After another beat of stillness, the smaller blonde decided not to even bother and brushed off what had just transpired to point vaguely in the direction to café's kitchens. She was beyond proud of herself when her voice came out smooth and casual, "I already ordered your food for you so you wouldn't have to wait even longer." It had been a sneaky move, but she figured if she fed him, then the Lightning Dragon Slayer would be forced to stay longer and hear her out while he finished his food.

To further sweeten the deal, Lucy added, "And I already paid for it all." She said it with a smile, but she was silently crying on the inside because it had cost _a fortune_.

Laxus raised a sarcastic eyebrow at that and leaned back in his chair, the awful creaking of the wood shifting made Lucy flinch and fear for the chair's well being. "You ordered for me?" He tilted his chin haughtily and by some miracle, was able to inch his eyebrow even further up as if it was trying to meet and embrace his hairline. "Do you even know what I like?"

"I don't," she admitted, but the grin never faltered because she had already thought of that. "So I just ordered everything from an entire page of the menu. You dragon slayers have spectacular appetites anyways, right?"

He eyed her while he nodded minutely. Like he thought a tiny nod was an appropriate 'thank you for your extreme thoughtfulness and hospitality, please stay by my side as one of my closest friends forever'. Had she just passed some sort of test? Lucy would like to know if she passed the test, but she was too afraid to ask.

The Lightning Dragon Slayer leaned forward on his elbows, his entire expression changing. Lucy had thought he appeared serious before, but apparently the other blonde mage could grow even graver. Must be an extraordinary talent of his. His brows furrowed, his mouth thinned into a straight, flat line, and Laxus leaned in. Mavis, the man was acting like someone had died.

Laxus didn't keep the celestial mage waiting, and Lucy braced herself for the horrible news that was surely to come as the slayer asked lowly, "So what happened?"

This had to be around the fiftieth time in the past thirty minutes that Laxus had managed to shock Lucy into silence. What in the world was he talking about _now_? Lucy said in a highly perplexed tone, "What?" She was back to wanting to pinch herself, just to make sure she was still on Earthland.

Right as Laxus opened his mouth, the loud ringing of a bell sounded, effectively making both blondes jump a little and confusedly look to their side where they were met with beaming faces approaching them. Four employees were by their table, each holding up a tray brimming with steaming food. Lucy was the one who had ordered the entire sandwich and soup categories, but she was still shocked over the enormous quantity.

Thankfully, the Strawberry Street Café was well aware of the appetites of the dragon slayers from Fairy Tail (and the almost absurdly high tipping due to either the mage's more generous paychecks or their kind-heartedness) so when Lucy had ordered, they immediately got to fixing it instead of staring at her and claiming she was just pulling a prank. They had only made that mistake once when Lucy had first dragged Natsu and Happy there. It hadn't ended well for either side.

They ceased their conversation as Lucy pushed past her confusion and happily greeted the hard working employees that made all of this food for them while Laxus merely grunted and removed his elbows from the table to make for more room. There were so many plates that the staff had to add on two more tables to the blondes'.

Even though Lucy has dined in restaurants with Natsu countless times and experienced firsthand how much he could eat, she still watched in surprise and amusement as plate after plate was placed down on their expanded table. Though Laxus still donned that grim expression, there was still a growing, satisfied light in his orange eyes as his entire focus centered in on the food. Maybe, just maybe, by the end of Blonde Day, Laxus wouldn't hate the entire time they spent together. Maybe the sheer amount of food that Lucy was willing to supply him would keep him coming back.

Lucy smiled at the staff before they took off back to the kitchens before turning around and seeing Laxus start gathering up plates with a broad sweeping motion with his arms. In that one moment, he truly did look like a dragon hording its treasure. Though the other blonde might be an artificial dragon slayer, he still was one.

It wasn't until Laxus had scarfed down seven sandwiches (Lucy had barely even finished half her bowl of broccoli and cheese soup) that he remembered she was there. There wasn't a hint of embarrassment on his face even though he was clearly aware of just how rude he was being, and Laxus 'oh so graciously' slowed down enough to ask again, "So what kind of horrible shit has happened to Fairy Tail's one and only Celestial Spirit mage that made her seek me out?"

Lucy's eyes slowly widened in realization, and she dropped her spoon, causing some scalding droplets of her soup to splatter over the table and her hands. _Oh_. Laxus had asked what's wrong the first time she tried to talk to him too. He believed something had to be wrong for her to approach him? Was that… should Lucy find that funny or really sad? As she stared at her soup splattered hands, she leaned towards finding it really sad.

Still not answering the man, she slowly reached out and grabbed a clean napkin. The celestial mage grimaced while she wiped her hands off as she remembered Mirajane's words to her yesterday. The silver-haired woman _had_ said to make it sound important, and Lucy had. Honestly, she should have seen this coming. Of course Laxus would automatically assume something horrible had happened, she never really approached him before this, and she had followed Mira's advice and sounded serious.

"Well… Really, you see, nothing's wrong." Lucy couldn't meet Laxus' sharp orange eyes anymore, and she dropped her used napkin to start wringing her hands together instead.

Lucy never knew someone could frown while devouring a chicken cordon bleu. Laxus swallowed his bite and said in a tone that screamed 'annoyed', "Then why am I here?"

… _Crap_. Lucy forgot that at one point she actually had to tell the lightning mage about the real reason for their 'hanging out'. Lucy swallowed her own saliva at his hard look, undoubtedly thinking that she was wasting his time. Mavis, she probably _was_ wasting his time. Dammit, she was starting to sweat again.

Should she just come out with the truth? Be direct, just like Mirajane said? Lucy panicked and just hastened out, "Because it's Blonde Day!" No pleasantries, no leading up to it, just ' _it's Blonde Day'_. The smaller blonde squeezed her eyes shut, too afraid to see Laxus' reaction. Would he be angry? Would he stomp out of the café? Should she have brought out the cards before she admitted to basically tricking him into joining her for an early dinner hang out?

At a crackling noise, Lucy bravely peeked open an eye. What she saw made her jump up straight and snap both of her eyes open.

Laxus, right there in front of her, was looking at her with the most dumbfounded expression she had ever seen on him. He had dropped his sandwich back onto his plate (hands still up in the air as if he was still holding onto it), both his thick eyebrows had climbed up his forehead, his mouth was slightly opened, and his eyes were widened. Small sparks of electricity even fizzled above his shoulders as if even his dragon slayer magic was -pun unintended- _shocked_.

"Wha- What the _fuck_ did you just say?" The Lightning Dragon Slayer stumbled incredulously.

"It's… Blonde Day?" Lucy made some sort of jazz hand gesture because honestly she was just making stuff up by now. She didn't know what she was doing anymore. "Ta…da?" The female blonde grimaced and stuffed her hands back under the table. Pathetic jazz hands wouldn't be able to help her situation.

The slayer's eyes stopped trying to pop out of his head to narrow dangerously at her, and Lucy tried to discreetly pull at her collar until she realized her dress didn't have a collar. "What the ever loving fuck is 'Blonde Day'?" Surprise had weaned into suspicion as Laxus nailed her with his resolute glare.

"A day were blonde mages go out with the other blonde mages to celebrate their rare hair color." Lucy ducked her head. This was it, now Laxus knew.

The man was just a big fan of staring at people in silence, wasn't he? Lucy went back to avoiding his gaze, especially when the lightning mage gruffed out in a deadpan voice, "That is literally the stupidest thing I have heard this week."

Lucy sighed and started drumming her fingers against her thigh. "I know." It wasn't a brilliant and sophisticated plan, she had been more than unsure of it herself when she had created it in the pool. But, like then, it was all she had.

"So what do you want?" Laxus was still eerily flat-voiced, and Lucy cautiously brought her head up again. "Why are you really doing this?" The dragon slayer inquired further, forgetting his meal completely and crossing his broad arms over his broad chest. Mavis, everything about the man was broad.

"I don't want anything," Lucy said truthfully. Well, she wanted his friendship, but she couldn't say that and she had a feeling that wasn't what Laxus was looking for anyways. He was asking what Lucy wanted from him, Laxus Dreyar the S-Class mage, the guild master in training. This was exactly what Lucy was explaining to Natsu in the pool two days ago.

"Sure you don't." His attitude and tone dripped with so much distrust that Lucy was surprised it wasn't forming a puddle of distrust underneath his chair. There was a scrape of the chair's legs against the wooden floor as Laxus began to get up. "I'm leaving."

Wait, he was leaving?! The celestial mage panicked and jerked forward, surprising Laxus and herself when she lunged over the food and grasped a handful of the fur lining of his coat. The fur was surprisingly soft under her hold, but she couldn't pay attention to that right now. "Laxus, please!" she begged for multiple things. For him to stay, for him to understand she wasn't going to use him or his status in any way, for him to give this a chance, all those things.

She knew they were making a scene, first unintentionally grabbing the attention of the other customers with the mounds of food the cooks brought out to their table, and now with her rather pathetic display. A blush started to dust over the Celestial Spirit mages cheeks when she spotted more than a few heads turn their direction in her peripheral vision. Mavis, she probably looked like a desperate girlfriend that had just gotten dumped. That thought didn't help her at all, because her blush only worsened.

Laxus' nose scrunched up and his brows furrowed as he brought his hands up to lightly jab at her wrist and arms until she let go of his coat. Lucy carefully pulled back and stood on her side of the table, staring mournfully at the lightning mage. He couldn't leave, this had to work out. She didn't have any other ideas other than Blonde Day.

"Please, Laxus?" Lucy quietly tried as clasped her hands behind her back, just to make she didn't try to dive after him once more. The man most likely wouldn't tolerate her touching his coat once again, and she wouldn't blame him. "Just… sit down for Blonde Day? All this food will go to waste if you leave."

Hard and unforgiving orange eyes scrutinized her, and Lucy tried not to fidget. They stood there like that for a few seconds while the whispering from the other customers grew louder, wondering what in the world was happening between those two blondes. Words like 'break up' and 'good twin, evil twin' were being thrown around, but the two mages paid no attention to them, too busy sizing the other one up.

The dragon slayer let out a heavy exhale and appeared furious, but he sat back down in his chair and started gathering up food again. He even extended his hand and swiped the rest of her soup away from her. After he had stolen her lunch, he pointed a finger at her (just like she had done to him yesterday) and declared, "This is stupid." He made sure the other blonde clearly knew his opinions on this. "I'm doing this for the free food. So don't go around thinking that I'm doing this for you," he firmly warned.

Like Laxus, Lucy let out a big exhale herself and slid into her chair. "Okay." She agreed lightly. This was good, he didn't walk out on her never to return. If he stayed for one Blonde Day, then perhaps she could convince him to stay for many others. The smaller mage had a feeling that Laxus wasn't like Natsu, and he wouldn't keep coming just for the food, he'd stop all together if he got too bored with her and Blonde Day.

Lucy clapped her hands together, much to the annoyance of the slayer who would much rather pay attention to his food than to her, and said cheerfully. "So! What do you want to talk about?" They had to start somewhere, right? Should she bring out the cards now or later?

Laxus shrugged and grunted.


	4. Luxurious Lions and Larcenous Lily's

_Chapter Four: Luxurious Lions and Larcenous Lily's_

_'you'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap'  
\- _ Dolly Parton

.

All seemed peaceful that night on Strawberry Street as the moon's glow illuminated the cobblestone roads until they shone a pale silver. There was a minor breeze which caused some torn out pages of a few magazines and newspapers to go sliding across the street, only to get caught in the corners of small buildings or behind trash cans. The river in the canal rippled softly when fish swam to the surface to pick off the buzzing insects that fell into its dark waters, and boats rocked lazily with the minuscule waves that were instigated by the wind.

Every street and house light on Strawberry Street was switched off as midnight approached and the Magnolia citizens closed their shops and climbed into the warm comfort of their beds. All the lights, however, except those that belonged to one apartment with a brown sloping roof and two chimneys. Light shone brightly out from the window that led into a blonde mage's bedroom, attracting the attention of both hammered drunks walking home and pesky moths. If someone on the ground level angled themselves correctly from across the other side of the canal, they would even be able to see the heads of two silhouette figures inside the room, sitting crisscrossed on the floor and facing each other.

These two figures happened to be Lucy Heartfilia, the apartment's owner herself, and one of her celestial spirits, a lean man with spiked orange hair and a sharp suit that never seemed to wrinkle. The being's proper attire already stuck out dramatically compared to his master's raggedly pajama shirt and shorts, but with the mysterious green paste smeared all over his face, he just looked ridiculous.

Quiet snarling and a substantial amount of eye rolls were coming from Lucy, who was huffing and puffing angrily as she held Leo's hand and used gentle and careful strokes of the brush to paint the lion's nails. Though she was fuming on both the outside and the inside, she was precise in painting Leo's nails a bright and vibrant pink. Her own nails were a light orange and had just finished drying enough for her to start working on her spirit's.

"He just sat there!" The Celestial Spirit mage snorted indignantly and turned Leo's hands so she could get a better angle. "He sat there and didn't even attempt to talk! I even brought out the cards, and he refused to play them with me because ' _he didn't feel like it_ '! He refused to participate and sat there!" She had spent an entire hour trying to decipher Cana's slurred teachings on how to play the basic card games all for nothing. Mirajane's advice had failed her.

Lucy shook her head. "You know what he was doing? He was sulking, that's what he was doing. Sulking like a child," the blonde spat as she tried to keep the hurt from seeping into her voice. She was mad alright, but she was also unbelievably hurt by the fellow blonde's nonchalant attitude towards not only her, but to everyone else in the guild.

"Uh-huh," came the offhand reply from the leader of the zodiac. The magnificent, resilient, and flirty spirit truly did look absurd and out of place with that coat of smarmy, green facial scream over his features (a 'face mask' that matched the identical one on his owner's face. Fortunately, unlike Lucy's, his orange spiked locks were already gravity defying, so there was no need to go as far as pulling it back with a hairband) and his pink nails. Leo's tinted sunglasses were placed on the floor next to him so anyone who had a brain could easily recognize his faraway and glazed expression as boredom.

If Lucy had just peered upwards, she would have seen his unfocused eyes. However, she was instead intensely concentrating on painting his left hand. She was a perfectionist, and she would not allow her spirit to leave her room with sloppy work on his fingers.

One of Leo's cat ears twitched when Lucy screeched, "How _dare_ that… that _lightbulb_ act so casual! I mean, all I did was put Mira's advice into action and misled him about my true intentions. Was that so wrong -I… well, actually… maybe it was, but still! It was horribly rude of him to not even try!" The mage was raging and she couldn't seem to stop. She had known that the path towards gaining Laxus Dreyar's friendship would be a long and twisty one, but she hadn't anticipated how annoying it was to be brushed off so insouciantly by the dragon slayer.

Leo let out a long humming noise. "What a bastard."

"Right?!" Lucy nodded furiously as she finished painting his index finger. She jostled his hand around so she could comfortably reach his thumb. "He could have at least tried to get to know me in return! But no, all he did was sit there with an solemn look on his face, which is also really insulting by the way, and scarf down his food that _I_ paid for!"

The rest of the time she spent with Laxus had been her own personal _Hell_ **.** After getting the dragon slayer to stay, the rest of the afternoon had been one giant mess of the words 'awkward' and 'unsavory', and it made Lucy want to bury herself under her bed and never come out to see the light of day. And because her mind hated her, it kept _replaying_ the embarrassing moments over and over again while Lucy repeatedly called her herself an idiot.

She could remembered, very clearly, one of her biggest failures of that day. It made her cringe every time she remembered it.

_"Well, okay," Lucy said uncertainly, shifting in her seat. Her mind came up empty, why was her mind coming up empty? Didn't she spend the entire last night writing down conversation topics on paper? Where were they now, why couldn't she recall them in the heat of the moment? "Do you... Do you want to talk about the crushing expectations of our fathers that pushed us to take extreme measures?"_

_As soon as the words had spewed out of her mouth Laxus paused, half a sandwich still in his hands, and sent her a glare that chilled her to her bones. She was completely frozen, she couldn't move a single muscle while being at the end of his nasty glower. Did Gray sneak up behind her and turn her into a block of ice without her knowing? Was that why she couldn't seem to move?_

_The fellow blonde put down his food with an out of place carefulness that only made the celestial mage shrink back in slight apprehension. "I'd rather jump into a tub of acid," He frankly deadpanned._

Dammit, Natsu. The blonde held back her groan of discomfiture. It'd only raise Leo's suspicions, and the celestial being might try to pry.

"Simply atrocious."

The fuming celestial mage's grip on her spirit tightened as she stewed in her anger. "Exactly!" Her voice was leaning towards sounding whiny, but she didn't care. After that horrible, horrible afternoon, Lucy thought she deserved to whine a little. Every hour she had to sit with that unmovable, unmalleable, unamiable -and all the other 'un's- man, she earned a full sixty minutes of complaining.

The blonde wanted to fling her arms up in surrender. "And where did he learn those manners?!" Okay, now she was just reaching for stuff to rant about. "Does the man know how to communicate feelings without shrugging? He's the king of shrugs! And the rest of us are all his lowly shrugger peasants! Laxus should be christened 'King _'Eh'_."

An exhale. "It's a mystery."

The Lightning Dragon Slayer had been so rude that day, he wouldn't even give her an inch! She had forgotten how the man's emotional state was nearly identical to that of a rock's-

-Suddenly, Lucy deflated and her shoulders slumped. She loosed her hold on Leo and sighed heavily. That was a terrible thing to think, why had she thought that? Laxus was a person, of course he had emotions and feelings. Everything other than anger and annoyance was just... hidden really well or only brought out when someone was actually dying.

"Laxus is just so… so…" Lucy bit her lower lip as she tried to think of words that could accurately describe Laxus Dreyar. Her brows scrunched up in thought as she dipped the brush back into the nail polish container to gather some more. When she resumed her task, she said slowly, "So… bent on remaining a social hermit. Doesn't he want to see us all as something other than annoying siblings?"

"What a bastard."

Lucy halted her work at those words. _'What a bastard'? Wait, he already-_ Lucy's head snapped up to see the lion's face turned away hers, staring out her window into the dark night. Her brown eyes narrowed. "You already said that," she said lowly, twisting her head and leaning forwards so she could get a better look at the spirit's expression. "Hey, are you okay? You've been acting a little distant, is something wrong? Did I do something wrong?" Her expression softened and she prodded his arm gently.

Leo stopped his gazing at the starry sky to peer down at the owner of his golden key. If Lucy wasn't so worried about what was going on inside that head of his, she would have burst into snickers at the sight of his green facemask. With a rather dramatic sigh, the lion spirit tilted his head back and brought his free hand up and placed the back of it against his forehead, making Lucy wonder if he picked the move up from Mira. "It's just… My highness's affections and attentions have moved on to another man. This disheartening development has both me and my heart pulverized."

A bright blush immediately bloomed across Lucy's cheeks as the spirit brought his hand back down and muttered a 'shit' when he noticed the back of it was covered in facial cream. "It's not like that!" Was her instantaneous, almost instinctual really, reaction. She gripped the nail polish bottle and begged the reddening of her cheeks to go away. "I-I, I don't… don't _like_ _like_ him," she stuttered. She was trying to become Laxus' friend, not _date_ him!

"Sure you don't." Leo's eyebrow raise screamed disbelief. He pointed to her fingernails. "Then why did you paint your own nails orange, huh? _Orange_ like his _eyes_."

Lucy gaped at her friend, momentarily stupefied that he was making a big deal out of her chosen fingernail polish. She spread her fingers apart to admire the job she had done. She liked orange! "It was a coincidence," the blonde tilted her chin and said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Pure coincidence."

The lion spirit snorted, all the while examining her room to find something to wipe his hand with. "Last time you painted your nails orange, you complained to Virgo for thirty minutes straight about how it made you feel like a peach with your golden hair. She now thinks you despise peaches." He gave her 'the look'. "I am only aware of this because Virgo then later lectured _me_ for thirty minutes about how we, as your faithful spirits that adore you and all that you stand for, should never utter the word 'peach' in front of you in case it makes you feel 'uncomfortable'." He even went as far as adding finger quotes.

By this point, Lucy was just spluttering out different vowel sounds, but the celestial being was merciless. She was full on squawking when he cooed in a whimsical sing song voice, " _Oh_ , y _ou painted your nails the color of his eyes!_ " The sight of her burning face only seemed to fuel his teasing. Giving her a sly look, Leo pulled his hand from her grasp and carefully clasped both of them over his heart. "'Laxus, darling o' mine'," The lion's voice was pitched higher than normal. "'Laxus, your stunning eyes remind me of the lush colors that belong solely to the gorgeous sunset that lies over the outline of Magnolia!'."

Lucy immediately shushed Leo and flailed her hands in front of his green face to try to get him to stop. "Stop it, you're talking like Juvia!... And I do not sound like that!" She protested. Who was she kidding, she did sound like that. Unlike Natsu's impression of the blonde a few days ago, Leo's was spot on. He had the sparkles in his eyes and everything.

The Celestial Spirit Mage reached forward and snatched Leo's hand again. "Oh, just shut up." She rolled her eyes at the lion spirit's smirk.

"Or," he drawled easily as she continued painting his nails again. "Did you paint your nails orange because it's the color of my hair?"

It was Lucy that snorted this time. "Yeah, right. You wish."

"I do wish, I wish immensely." Leo was about to make another jab at Lucy, but paused when he noticed the tense lines forming on the corners of her mouth. "Are you okay, Lucy? You're all," he made a gesture that included pointing at her entire mouth, "frown-y."

"I don't know, I just…" Lucy trailed off as she scrutinized her work on Leo's fingernails. She dropped it and grabbed his other hand to start working on designs. "This Blonde Day was a disaster, I barely got him to agree to next week's one -Do you want stars or a heart? Thumb or ring finger?"

What she had said was true, she had barely managed to reel the other blonde mage into agreeing for next Thursday. They had ended it early and they were standing outside of café's doors when she had asked if he was free the same time next Thursday. He nearly brushed her off and walked away, but he must have spotted the pure desperation on her features because he grumpily agreed. For some reason, he only seemed to grow graver when Lucy beamed happily at his response.

The stellar mage didn't even want to begin thinking about what happened after that. After they had stiffly said their farewells, they began walking in the same direction back to the guild. One tense moment later and Laxus muttered that he suddenly felt like heading home. Lightning had started gathering near his legs and crackled around him before he morphed into his lightning form and sped away with an ear-deafening boom. Lucy hadn't been able to hear out of her right ear for the next several minutes and the hairs on her arms had been _literally_ _shocked_ into standing straight.

"Stars of course, my love. Ring finger." Leo leaned closer to her and wiggled his digits. "Hey, see if you can make my constellation."

"I don't think I can do that, your star alignment is so fa- _expansive_."

"I take offense to that."

Lucy let out a soft chuckle before she remembered her troubles. She became somber again. Mavis, she was just up and down for the past days, Laxus was making her an emotional roller coaster. "I don't know, Leo," she whispered, "if I'm the right one to become his friend. What if I don't have what it takes? I'm noisy and have a tendency to snap, those are terrible friend qualities."

There was a beat of silence, and Lucy could see Leo's drumming his fingers against her floor. After a few more moments Leo spoke up while Lucy finished painting a cluster of stars on his fingernail, "I don't know what you're talking about. The Lucy I know could forgive and befriend anyone while smiling the entire time. Also, I know quite a large number of mages who already love her, even if she is a tad loud and was quick to anger."

The celestial mage shyly ducked her head and quickly finished giving the lion spirit a clear coat. "You don't… I'm not…" she couldn't even finish her sentence.

"I'm right and you know it," Leo stated confidently. He gave her his other hand to put a clear coat on. "I haven't the slightest clue to why you want to befriend Laxus Dreyar, he's really a big dick-" Lucy promptly choked on her spit "-but I'll support you and all your decisions. And if that means giving you frequent pep talks that are obviously just to stroke your ego, then so be it. Anything for my queen."

"Hey! I take offense to that," the blonde threw the celestial spirit's words right back at him. Pep talks just to stroke her ego? She couldn't come up with a good comeback, so she threw his hands down and bounced up to stand. "There, Mr. High And Mighty, you're done."

"Finally." The lion grinned as he stood up, inspecting Lucy's work with sharp eyes. Leo wiggled his fingers again. "Well, now that that torture's over with and you've been re-energized..." he stopped and looked at her. "You're re-energized, right? No more moping and more solving?"

Lucy laughed. "Yes, Leo. I'm re-energized." She'd figure out something to do with Laxus tomorrow. Perhaps she could come up with activities that acquaintances could attend together. The mage idly wondered what his thoughts would be on taking a basket weaving class for Blonde Day. Everyone loved baskets.

The spirit clapped his hands together. "Great! Because I have to run." Leo walked around her room, picked up his sunglasses from the floor, and snatched up a towel from her hamper. As he started carefully wiping off the green facial cream from his hand, being mindful of the drying nail polish, he smiled warmly. "Sleep well, Lucy."

Just as he was about to materialize into light, Lucy held out her arm and rushed, "Wait!" She had to ask him something she'd been dying to know the whole night. No way would she let him escape without an answer.

The lion blinked at her and stayed, and Lucy tilted her head and asked, "Why did you want me to paint your nails tonight?"

"Huh?"

The blonde shook her head. "Don't 'huh' me. You're the one who popped out of nowhere in my room and asked me to paint your nails pink. So why?" It had actually been hilarious. There she had been reading in her bed when a frazzled lion spirit appeared with a flash of stardust and glasses askew. He had immediately grabbed her book and threw it across the room, which earned him a kick to the chest. After recovering, he practically begged her to paint his nails pink for him.

Leo shrugged and played with the sunglasses in his hands. "I made a bet with Capricorn that I'd look better with pink nails than he would," he said simply before eyeing her. "If Capricorn asks you to paint _his_ nails… claws?"

"I'll deny him," Lucy chuckled. She didn't know why she was getting mixed up in something between two of her spirits, but she was in a good mood now and Leo was here first, after all. The celestial mage was about to say goodnight when she remembered. "Just one last thing, though, then you can go, I promise."

"And what would that be, apple of my eye?"

Lucy giggled again and pointed to her own face. "You gotta little… You still have the face mask on. You can wash it off in my sink if you want." The blonde had no clue how they both ended up with face masks on. One minute Leo was rifling through her nail polish supply under her sink, and the next he pulled the jar and got curious. Before she knew it, they were sporting matching green faces.

Leo waved his hand. "Ah, I'm going to leave it on. I'm planning to scare Aries with it and then catch her feinting figure in my waiting arms. Goodnight, Lucy. Sleep tight."

She said her goodnights and Leo disappeared back to the Spirit World. After he was gone, her apartment became dead silent, and Lucy exhaled heavily and went to turn off her lights. Now that her friend was gone, her limbs started getting heavy with sleep again and all she could think about was getting into the warm bed that practically beckoned to her to return.

The blonde stumbled her way to the bathroom and wearily scrubbed the facial mask off with a dirty towel before she went back to her bed and fell into it more than she did slide into it. She had a big day tomorrow. A day full of never-ending planning and asking around about a basket-weaving class because she honestly couldn't come up with anything better.

Lucy could only sigh in relief as she sank down into her bed. It was so warm and cozy, and she wrapped her puffy comforter around herself while she breathed in. She had only closed her eyes for seven minutes before Capricorn appeared and politely inquired if she would be oh so kind enough to paint his nails pink.

* * *

The small scrap of paper was gently folded back out against the surface of the wooden table in an attempt to get rid of at least some of the numerous creases that marred it. Earlier that morning Lucy had originally crumbled it up into a little ball and thrown it into the trashcan under her desk, but only five seconds passed before she fished it back out again. The blonde still thought the idea written on it was a crappy one but with nothing else, it was the only thing she still had.

She had even brought it with her to the guild, and she had been staring at it for the past forty-five minutes while she tried to figure out if she was serious about this or not. Okay, so it only took two minutes to realize she wasn't serious about it (Laxus in a basket weaving class? Edolas would have produced another magic source before _that_ happened), but she was still holding onto it as if it was some sort of security blanket.

Not surprisingly, the Celestial Spirit mage hasn't seen Laxus since Blonde Day. The man and his posse have been mysteriously absent from the guild ever since their meet up, and Lucy was starting to expect that the Lightning Dragon Slayer was dodging her. If that was the case then jokes on him, because _she's_ evading _his presence_ right back.

The celestial mage was also avoiding Mira, and that's why she was seated at the table furthest from the bar where the silver-haired beauty was working alongside with Kinana. It was foolish to presume that Mira didn't know she was there -Lucy could clearly see the older woman keep sending little glances her way- yet she was still hiding. Lucy almost felt like Laxus, hiding in the back and avoiding any confrontation what so ever. It was depressing, yet oddly freeing.

Though she meant no harm by it, Mira would keep pestering her for more and more details on Blonde Day, and Lucy wasn't quite ready to admit the catastrophe of a day just yet. Maybe by Tuesday she would be. Tuesday seemed like a good day to admit all her faults and failures.

Speaking of Laxus, Lucy kicked her legs under the table and let out a high pitched, frustrated whine, earning a few 'I'm concerned for your health' glances from Gajeel and Pantherlily from the table to her left.

Lucy sent a weak glare their way in return, which they paid no attention to. They had no right to look at her like she was a weirdo. _They_ were the ones who were currently dumping the separate hauls of tableware that they had both gathered over the weekend into one shining pile. The sheer number of silverware concerned her. Just how many establishments did those two 'borrow from' to gather that much? Was Gajeel stocking up early for the winter? Lucy reminded herself to check her silverware drawers when she got home.

Other than double checking that her appliances hadn't mysteriously vanished, she still needed to figure out a new plan for gaining the Lightning Dragon Slayer's friendship, and she had to do it fast. The next Blonde Day was only five days away and she had to bring something entirely different to the table if she would have any hope that Laxus would stay.

Lucy sighed and traced the numbers written down on the scrap paper while she slumped forwards. On the paper was the time and place of that basket weaving class she had originally first come up with during her 'spirit and Lucy time' with Leo. For kicks and giggles, she had looked around the next day and learned that Magnolia did, in fact, have a beginner's basket weaving class, and the old lady who ran the event was very skillful, even without four of her fingers.

From her peripheral vision, she could see Gajeel leaning towards her as his Exceed dumped the last few remaining spoons on their mega pile. The clanking of metal against metal was strangely soothing as Lily began sorting them into piles of forks, spoons, and knives. Lily's sorting came to a stuttering halt however when he picked up a whisk. It was nearly comical when the cat sweatdropped as he desperately went back and forth between each pile, trying to place the kitchen tool.

The blonde was mildly surprised when she noticed Gajeel's attentions wasn't focused on the buffet of metal in front of him, instead his peculiar red eyes were staring straight at _her_. Lucy's nose scrunched up. Did she have some food on her face? Oh no, had she been walking around _in front of the entire guild_ with something on her face?! Lucy brought her arm and furiously began wiping at her mouth and cheeks.

The metal-studded dragon slayer surprised her even further when he enquired, "Yo, Bunny Girl, you okay there?"

The stellar mage tilted her head, confused, only to have Gajeel answer her silent question when he forthrightly pointed to her legs with a small smirk. Lucy was shocked to see that her legs were bouncing on their own accord without her permission. When had they started doing that? She pressed her palms down hard on her thighs and stopped the jittering.

"Well, huh," was all she could say. She must have really been lost inside her own head to not even notice.

Gajeel didn't seem to notice his Exceed pulling on his sleeveless tunic in an attempt to gain his attention -Pantherlily appeared lost as he still hopelessly tried to figure out where to put the stolen whisk- because the slayer scooted around in his chair until he was facing towards blonde. "So, spit it out." Gajeel nodded and made a clumsy 'go on' hand motion. "Give it to me."

Lucy rose her eyebrow, and she placed her hand over her heart. "Excuse me?" Give it to him? Give what? Her sense of dignity? Because if so, she couldn't. She had left that sucker at a table in the Strawberry Street Café along with her pride.

A flash of annoyance flew over his facial features as his frown became more prominent. Lucy really started worrying when Gajeel started opening and closing his hands in an overly aggressive 'gimme' gesture. The blonde leaned back in her chair, away from her friend, as discreetly as possible. After getting pummeled in the head so many times, the man's finally snapped, he's gone crazy. First the stealing of silverware and now this.

"Come _on_ ," Gajeel ordered forcefully, his voice laced with obvious frustration. His hand signals were starting to look like he was practicing strangling someone, and even their guildmates situated around them were beginning to don a nervous appearance. "Let it out. Right now, to good ol' metal-head."

"Gajeel, you're scaring me."

Pantherlily held up his tiny paw and yanked hard on the mage's tunic again, and he finally received the dragon slayer's attention. "Use your words, Gajeel, what would Levy say?" Lily reprimanded with a disappointed shake of his head.

After sharing a meaningful glance with his cat, The Iron Dragon Slayer took a moment to breathe out harshly through his nose while he squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, he rolled his shoulders to relax them before he settled his eyes on her with an expression that very clearly indicated that he thought she was being a dolt. "What I'm tryin' to say is, what's bothering ya, Bunny Gi-"

"Gajeel," Lily warned, tail flicking in annoyance.

"- _Lucy_ ," The man said it with a twist of his lips like it felt weird using her actual name. His lips flattened into a white line, and he quickly twisted in his chair and grabbed a handful of stolen silverware. In seconds the metal disappeared into his mouth, and all Lucy could do was sit there in her chair with a rumpled on piece of paper in her hands and watch him eat, what could probably be, her forks.

It took a moment for Lucy to realize that the man was _stress eating_. The blonde bent down and placed her hands under her chair and awkwardly sort of squatted and dragged her chair closer to her friend's, suddenly being driven by a desire to comfort the other mage and his noticeable discomposure. She only got halfway before Gajeel stopped her with a heavily scarred, outstretched arm, his palm facing towards her and a scowl marring his face.

"Oh, no you don't," Gajeel hissed through his teeth. He only ceased his glowering when Lucy hurriedly scooted herself along with her wooden chair back to its rightful place. "I'm the one who's gonna… gonna _help_ _you_ , not the other way around. So, who's the pissbaby that's got you so down in the dumps, Bunny Girl?"

Pantherlily brought up his head from where it was bent over reorganizing a pile to correct the dragon slayer again, and Lucy could tell the exact moment where the predominately black cat decided to not even bother and go back to the silverware.

Her eyes widened. He Gajeel just said ' _who_ '? How did he know it a person who was causing her frequent bouts of melancholy and the need to ask around about stupid basket weaving classes? Did he know it was Laxus in particular? If she wasn't sitting down, then she would have been roughly shaking his shoulders and demanding him to spill whatever classified information concerning her secrets that he held.

"How'd you know it was a 'who'?" Lucy probed as she eyed him cagily, ready to flee without a moment's hesitation and dive behind the bar. Mira could protect her there.

If Gajeel knew about Blonde Day, then that meant there was a high chance that _everyone in the guild_ knew about Blonde Day, and that thought caused Lucy to start panicking. If people knew, then they would tease her and Laxus, and if they teased Laxus about it then he definitely would start avoiding her like the plague, even more than he was now. Mavis, if Lucy walked into the same building as him, he would most likely fling himself out a window to escape.

Gajeel's laughter broke her out of her thinking. "Gihihi," The Iron Dragon Slayer grinned devilishly as he leaned back in his chair and propped up both legs onto the table. His heavy boots thudded when soled heels met wood and Gajeel's grin only widened, seemingly not worried over the fact that if Mirajane or Erza caught him in the act, it'd mean certain death by defenestration or decapitation. "I didn't, but I do now," He proclaimed arrogantly.

Lucy blushed in mortification and cursed the slayer's existence. He got her there, and using one of the oldest tricks in the book too.

"So, who is it?" Gajeel prodded casually. He suddenly rolled his red eyes and scoffed, "Don't tell me it's that pink-haired idiot, Salamander. What'd the hothead do this time?" Before Lucy could respond that Natsu hadn't -for once- done anything wrong, Gajeel gave her a knowing look, "Ya hated the newest mission he picked out didn't you? I gotta good look at it myself before Salamander whisked it away, and it was a pretty shitty one, I'll admit."

"Wait," Lucy held out her hand at the unexpected change of topic. "Natsu picked out another job? He hasn't approached me about it yet."

Gajeel shrugged. "Really? For sure, I thought that's what you were poutin' over." He didn't even acknowledge her offended ' _I do not pout_!'. The other mage let out a soft 'huh' before telling her, "That flame-head picked out that one demolition job, and I 'member Shrimp telling me you hated callin' out your spirits on those."

Natsu picked out a demolition job for them? Lucy barely held back the disappointed groan or the slap of her hand to her forehead, Gajeel snickering when he saw her face twist from her inner turmoil. That had been the reaction he had been expecting.

 _Of course_ the rosette would, it was one of his top five favorite types of jobs (she knew this because Natsu had once made actual physical copies of this list and had proudly presented it to her along with the rest of the team. Lucy was sure she still had thirty or so copies still shoved in random crevices in her apartment). And he knew she hated demolition jobs. She always felt guilty for summoning her celestial spirits to do manual labor like collapsing a building.

But, really, Natsu could go on demolition job after demolition job and never tire of it. It was the only time he was allowed to destroy something with all that he had and not get in trouble for it later or have his pay docked. They truly were made for him - _Oh. My. Mavis._

Lucy flipped and finally slapped the palm of her hand against her forehead. "Oh!" She accidentally exclaimed out loud. That was it! The solution to her Laxus troubles! A _job_.

"Gajeel, that's it!" She cried as she jumped up from her chair. With a ringing laugh, Lucy picked up her piece of paper and tore it into many smaller shreds. She wouldn't need basket weaving classes anymore! The blonde mage wiped the nonexistent sweat from her forehead and smiled brightly at her friend. "You're a genius, oh, thank you!"

A job was the perfect idea! And hadn't Mirajane been telling her that actions speak louder than words? That she'll her get to know Laxus better through his actions? She would go on a job with the Lightning Dragon Slayer! It was beyond perfect, and the only thing she had to do was ensure that the job was only something Laxus and her could do together. That shouldn't be too hard, right?

"I'm… glad to help?" Gajeel said uncertainly as his eyes followed the unhurried path of the falling scraps that drifted to the floor. The man had no clue what had just happened, but the blonde was complimenting him and he wasn't going to deny it. He unnecessarily added, "Anythin' to help the guild's stellar mage."

Lucy paused in her impromptu celebrating to scoff at Gajeel's pretentious behavior, but the smile slipped off her lips when she got a good look at her guildmate. _Hold on_. Something in the celestial mage's head clicked, and she slowly studied the mage before her, who growled out a rough ' _what are you looking at'_ when he noticed her staring at him. The other mage continued to demand her to tell him if there was something on his face and when he didn't get an answer, he sourly asked Lily.

Well, huh. Gajeel had been a lot like Laxus when the Iron Dragon Slayer had joined Fairy Tail, Lucy realized with a small smile. He had hidden in the shadows and kept to himself, all the while developing a strong sense of loyalty to the guild. And if Gajeel could now enjoy everyone's company, who's to say that Laxus couldn't? Lucy felt like squealing her happiness to the guild again, but was able to reel it inside her chest.

"Hey, Gajeel." Lucy said, beaming smile still firmly in place, and he looked up at her. "Why did you want to help me?"

The slayer's eyes narrowed before he snorted and waved his hand. "Eh, I had to fill my good deeds quota for the week, an' I spied you and your miserable…" He gestured to all of her. "…ness. Your miserable-ness. So, like the kind man that I am, I decided to help." Lucy's eye twitched at his self appraisal, and Gajeel had a sharp-toothed grin playing on his lips, red eyes practically dancing with pleasure. "I know, I know, I'm awfully great right? It was pretty magnanimous of me."

Lucy reeled back at his use of the large word. "How do you know what 'magnanimous' means?"

Gajeel smirked, looking as smug as the Exceed that caught the fish. "Gihi, Levy bought me a 'Word of the Day' calendar." The dragon slayer disclosed while he puffed up his chest. His preening only got worse as Lily bestowed upon the mage some 'well earned' praise beside him.

"She bought you a 'Word of the Day' calendar? And you're actually _using_ it?" She asked dubiously, blinking with surprise. Calendar? Suddenly her head space was sent back to yesterday when Mira had been telling her that Gajeel had sprinted out of the guild while blabbering something about a calendar. Was that the same calendar he was talking about?

"I'm a very capricious man, ya never know what I'm gonna do next."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FRIENDSHIP


	5. Contrite Chocolate Confections

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super long chapter and super _important_ chapter, so please enjoy! It's time for the second Blonde Day to take place!

**_Chapter Five: Contrite Chocolate Confections_ **

_'i'm sorry if this all seems a little rushed and desperate. it is'  
\- _ Chuck Palahniuk

_._

Maniacal laughter peeled throughout the otherwise dead-silent, abandoned town with sharp clarity as flashes of blazing fire exploded in random progression, crumpling any building that lied in its path. The flames sprouted up high into the startlingly blue sky and with a tremendous crash, another rotting building toppled over like an unbalanced stack of children's blocks, causing the ground to aggressively vibrate under the feet of the town's destroyers.

As soon as its structure hit the ground a large puff of dust mushroom-clouded into the air, but it didn't deter the Fire Dragon Slayer. No, Natsu didn't need to be able to _see_ to destroy stuff. In fact, in this situation he preferred to go at it blindly. Whatever he hit next would be a fun surprise. With his scaled-patterned scarf wrapped around his nose and mouth to keep him from inhaling debris, the rosette yelled out a -albeit, somewhat muffled- war cry and flung himself back into the rubble as he readied a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist.

From a 'not exactly safe' distance of five hundred feet away, Lucy flipped her sunglasses down over her eyes as a wave of dust and debris from Natsu's most recent obliteration passed over her standing form. The dust wave only strangled a mild cough from the blonde, but it effectively caused a flying Happy to tumble in the air and beg for someone to save him.

After it was safe to actually breathe again, Lucy took a swig from one of the many water bottles that they had carried with them to the job site. She promptly gurgled the water in her mouth and spat it right back out, washing out the dirt and sand that had somehow managed to get inside it. "Ack." Lucy cringed as she lifted her arm and wiped it across the heavy sheen of sweat on her brow. It didn't help any though, because her arm was just as sweaty. "It's so hot!" She wailed to the sky, but neither of her partners were listening to her.

Natsu was too busy having the time of his life, and Happy was whining on the ground and picking sticks and small chunks of stone out from his wings. Because Happy had the striking strength of a fetus (maybe even less, developing babies kick their mothers' uterus _hard_ ), he had to sit out on the demolition job and complain alongside with Lucy. For the past couple of hours the two have taken turns whining about their predicament to an unhearing Natsu.

All the flying dirt and dust has turned the Exceed's once fluffy white wings into more of a light brown color, and he was not at all pleased about it. He was constantly bemoaning about how Carla would find the color ugly, and Pantherlily would lecture him about how he wasn't properly taking care of his Aera wings. Lucy couldn't laugh at him, though. The blonde was now a temporary 'dirty blonde', in more ways than one. She wasn't a brunette just yet, but she was getting there. Maybe in another hour or two, give or take.

The stellar mage tilted her head upwards, sunglasses protecting her eyes from the bright, unforgiving glare of the afternoon summer sun as she observed the sky. Not a cloud in sight to shield them from the sun's harsh rays. She groaned and uselessly flapped her arms by her side in a show of rebellion. "I'm tired… and sticky," Lucy lamented to no in particular, her shoulders drooping like a wilting flower.

Below her sounded a weak and feeble ' _aye'_ as Happy jumped up and snatched the water bottle from her. The Exceed seemed seconds from collapsing, and he chugged the water down like his life depended on it. Happy had even doffed his green pack a long time ago because he was so exhausted. It laid pathetically on the ground, covered in a thick layer of dust and excreting the smell of rotting fish. Neither of them dared to touch it.

"Lushi," Happy slurred, glancing up at her with teary eyes. "Am I melting?"

Lucy could only tiredly nod, and Happy yowled his sorrow. Standing around for three hours in the summer heat was baking her insides, and the once blonde mage was positive that the heat waves had even melted off her orange nail polish from her finger nails. Maybe. The polish might have already chipped off before when Lucy was scrubbing her dirty dishes last night, but she couldn't recall anymore. There was a strong possibility that she was becoming delirious.

This was just one of the many reasons why she hated demolition jobs. Dust was getting into places dust should not be in, she was swimming in her own sweat, probably developing heatstroke, and she couldn't do anything because she stubbornly refused to summon any of her celestial spirits just to use their powers to take down a few buildings.

To make things worse, the job was only 30,000 jewels. _Only 30,000 jewels_. It was ridiculous! The job had been an official counsel regulated request for Fairy Tail to demolish an abandoned ghost town to make way for a rapidly expanding suburban area across the river, and they would only pay 30,000 jewels? Lucy huffed. Cheapskates, all of them. No wonder why so many villainous antagonists wanted to extinguish the council.

She pulled down her jean shorts after they starting sliding back up her thighs before cupping her hands over her mouth and yelling, " _Natsu_!" She didn't waste time waiting for a reply, she wanted to get out of the damn town as quick as possible. " _How much longer_?" How was the fire mage not completely drained of magic?

Lucy strained her ears to hear the reply, but got nothing other than another echoing laugh and the awful creaking of a building folding in upon itself. He didn't answer, but if the Celestial Spirit mage squinted she could make out six more standing buildings. Only six more to go, that wasn't so bad, was it? Another fifteen minutes tops? Another fifteen minutes full of coughing dust from her lungs and wishing someone would strike her down to end this suffering. It was horrible, there weren't even any trees around for them to duck under for shade, they were surrounded by plains.

Her eyes started to drift away from the falling town to the yellow grass swaying lazily all around them, giving the earth a rippling effect. It was hypnotic, and her wondering eyes stopped to stare. It was truly a beautiful. Entranced in the flowing movements of the grass, the blonde opened her mouth and unconsciously muttered, "I wish Laxus was here, he would have taken care of this within an hour." It came out without her permission, and as soon as she realized what she had said, her sagging body snapped up as straight as a rod and her mouth shut with a loud _click_.

Had she seriously just wished _out loud_ that the Lightning Dragon Slayer was here? And not only that, but subtly implied that the fellow blonde was a lot stronger and more efficient than her own teammate? _Did her subconscious mind have no loyalties_? So she _was_ going crazy from the heat!

Lucy jerked around, much to her sluggish body's reluctance, to see if Happy noticed the slip up, but she needn't have worried. Happy was currently leaning against her legs, eyes closed and seemingly dead to the world. He must have passed out when she wasn't looking, and Lucy smiled softly. The Exceed was pretty cute when he wasn't teasing her or smelled overwhelmingly of fish. He must have been more exhausted than she thought, lying so nicely still instead of wiggling around- Wait, was he actually dead?

Lucy moved the leg he was slumping against slightly to the right and felt a wave of relief wash over her when the Exceed grumbled, still very alive and not dead. The celestial mage was trying to determine if she should move him -she was hot enough, she didn't need another source of heat pressing up against her- when another boom sounded in the distance and shook the earth, almost causing Lucy to loose her balance.

Five more to go.

After wobbling and righting herself, Lucy narrowed her brown eyes and scanned the dust, trying to spot the pink-haired hothead, but couldn't see much. "He better hurry," she grumbled and reached down to grab the water bottle that Happy had unceremoniously dropped on the ground. When she picked it up, she noticed with distaste that it had become lukewarm.

She took another swig of the disgustingly warm water to gain back the fluids she had lost on this horrid afternoon, and her mind drifted back to what she had scandalously said earlier about Laxus. Well, actually, maybe her disloyal subconscious was onto something. The large man was a powerhouse, and he didn't seem like the type to goof off on jobs and take longer than absolutely necessary, unlike someone she knew. No, like the some _ones_ she knew and worked with.

A pregnant pause. "Ugh!" Lucy groaned without warning and threw her clammy hands up in the air. This time, however, it wasn't because of Natsu or the dust that was presently invading her nostrils. She had just gone and reminded herself that she urgently needed to find a job for her and Laxus.

Her lips formed into a pout when she recalled that tiny detail. At first she had been all gungho about it. She had assumed it would be easy as pie, nothing to stress over. How hard would it be to find a job that required both her and Laxus' magic? Super easy! Oh, how wrong she had been. Lucy drank more water with an uncalled for ferociousness. She'd been looking around for two days straight, but it was impossible! No wonder Nab never went out on any jobs and was in financial ruin; no job was _perfect_.

There had been only one job that she found so far that would fit Laxus' lightning magic, and that was to help a little town by the name Rosurge start up their empty generators. That sounded nice and all, but in no way would Lucy herself be able to help, and it only paid 15,000 jewels. There wasn't a chance in Earthland that Laxus would go for something like that, not when his regular S-Class missions paid in the millions. Even their reward for this demolition job was more than that meager amount.

Mavis, the next Blonde Day was coming up, and Lucy had nothing planned.

" _Lucy_!" Natsu's voice called in the distance.

Lucy perked up, snapping out of her impending gloom and eagerly searching the dust for a certain dragon slayer. Was he done? Him calling out her name meant he was done, right? Hope bloomed inside her chest. Could they finally leave? She promised herself right there that as soon as they got back to their inn, she was going to take the longest soak in the history of Fiore in the bathtub while she yearned for the day where she'd be free from every single speck of dust clinging to her body.

A blob of pink appeared from the dust cloud, and there was Natsu running up to them with shaky legs and a waving arm above his head, scarf flapping and repeatedly slapping him in the face. "Lucy! Happy!" He called, waving harder when he spotted them.

Lucy couldn't help but laugh when she got a good look at her partner. The dragon slayer running towards them was a mess. His one-sided sleeveless tunic was tattered and in ruins, his hair was covered with sand and bits of plaster, minor scrapes ran across his arms, and one of his goofy smiles was permanently etched onto his mouth as he bubbled with the joy of getting to freely destroy things.

His mouth was moving miles a minute as soon as he came to a screeching halt in front of her. "Did you see that, Lucy?!" he blurted out excitedly. "The twenty-seventh one I destroyed? The one with that weird tur…turret? Well, I blew that one to smithereens!" While laughing with utter joy, he miraculously had enough energy to jog around her in circles.

Natsu was vibrating in place as Lucy bent down and scooped up the passed out Happy. She gently cradled the cat to her chest and smiled at the rosette, nearly as ecstatic as he was because the hellish job was done and over with. "I saw that one, that one was cool to watch explode," she admitted truthfully, and Natsu jumped into the air and executed an overzealous fist pump.

"Yosh! Hell yeah it was cool!" Ever the humble and tranquil one, Natsu began running through some of the moves he used to topple buildings, but just without all the fire and destruction. The Fire Dragon Slayer went on a tangent that involved several onomatopoeias and phrases like 'and then I was like-!' and 'I totally was kicking building ass out there!'.

With Happy in her arms, Lucy began walking back in the direction that led back to their inn to report a mission well done, while Natsu was brave enough to run back and get the Exceed's biologically weaponized pack. Natsu wretched when he got within a few feet of it, nearly vomiting from the smell of the rotting creatures inside, but he stuck it out like a champ and sprinted back towards his teammates. Thankfully with the wind's direction, the smell was being pushed behind them so their noses wouldn't disintegrate along with what ever had liquefied in that green pack.

"Oh, wait!" Natsu exclaimed as he caught up to her, "I forgot to ask you!" After Lucy slightly angled her head towards his to show she was listening, Natsu continued with a gleeful sparkle in his dark eyes, "The inn we're staying at, it's next to a mega resort town, right? The one famous for its unicol wrestling?"

"Yeah?" Lucy nodded, curious to see where he was going with this. She just hoped it wouldn't have anything to do with her joining him in wrestling a unicol. All the creature's eyes freaked her out, and she almost shivered in the blistering heat just thinking about it.

He opened his arms out, Happy's backpack swinging in his hands, and did a little, excited jump. It was absolutely ridiculous, it looked like he had momentarily lost control of both his legs and arms at the same time. "I say we stay there for a few more days and check out the attractions, eh?" And as if Lucy wouldn't already jump at the chance of a mini vacation, Natsu added with a devilish smile, "I saw on that one brochure that they have one of the biggest buffets in this area of Fiore, and an _entire_ room dedicated to gross romance books in their gift shop. So, Luce, what do you say?"

Hearts popped up in her eyes at the mention of books and she squeezed Happy closer to her. Not that the Exceed minded, he was dead to the world. Though the reward for this job was small, it would be enough to buy a whole cart full of books. Lucy couldn't imagine a better way to spend all her money. "You had me at 'few more days'. But," She leveled an intense look at him, to let him know she was being serious, "you have to promise me that'll we'll be back in Magnolia before Thursday, okay? Can you guarantee that?"

If she didn't make it back in time and accidentally ditched Laxus for Blonde Day, then Lucy was positive that he'd have her head on a stick. Something about the lightning mage subtly painted him as a man who loathed having his time wasted, and would maim anyone who made him look like a fool. And being stood up at a dainty cafe would definitely make him look like a fool. Lucy liked her head where it was, and wasn't going to risk it.

Natsu gave her a funny look. "Yeah, sure. But why?"

It was Lucy's turn to give _him_ a weird stare. Did he just say ' _why_ '? He knew why, she had to get back before Blonde Day. He had literally been right there in the pool with her when she planned Blonde Day out, so surely he was just messing with her, right? She blinked before she rolled her eyes. He was totally just playing around. How Natsu of him.

When she didn't answer, Natsu lost interest in their conversation and went back to walking as a comfortable silence descended over the three. Natsu would occasionally make a funny face at the sleeping Happy, sniggering when the Exceed obviously didn't respond, but the dragon slayer didn't question her need to get back on a certain day or anything, just kept his pace beside her.

She glimpsed at him through the corner of her eyes. He couldn't have forgotten about the promise to befriend Laxus she made in the pool, could he? It had happened barely over a week ago. No way could he have forgotten already…

 _Did_ he forget? Lucy watched as the mage swung his arms back and forth with relaxed shoulders, trying to whistle while he was smiling, and it wasn't working. He was completely at ease.

… Nah, no way.

* * *

"Lucy," came a gentle, feminine voice from behind the Celestial Spirit mage, but Lucy payed no attention to it. She was too busy channeling all her concentration on Fairy Tail's request boards, fixedly presenting the papers with a nasty glower that would have made any living creature cower with fear. She had thought that maybe, just maybe, if she stared hard enough and long enough, then new jobs would materialize out of existence. Especially the job she was searching for.

For hours she's been ruffling through the papers on the request boards, examining every single one at least five times _just to make sure_. During her search she's been a witness to seven of Vijeeter's dance routines where the mage twisted his body into positions that just weren't humanely possible, her friends arrive to drink the night away and leave on shaky legs, and three brawls that ended with someone calling out for Wendy -unfortunately, only for them to realize that the healer was out on a job, causing her guildmates to wave their hands and huff, ' _eh, he'll be fine_ '.

She had even seen Erza at the bar at one point of the night, sniffling about how she accidentally forgot to put a timer on her strawberry flavored cake in the oven and pulled a Levy by burning it almost as bad as the Solid Script mage's pizza. Sometime before the end of the week, Lucy really needed to have a chat with Erza and confront her about the fact that drinking nine and a half strawberry daiquiris was not the proper way to forget her burnt desserts.

" _Lucy_ ," this time the voice said it more forcefully, and a small hand was placed on the blonde's shoulder.

Lucy waved her own hand absentmindedly and continued her desperate search, eyes flicking over the requests that she could blindly recite verbatim and probably identify by smell alone if she tried hard enough. No one could distract her from her mission, not even her own body's exhaustion. After spending all of Monday and Tuesday at the resort town and goofing off with Natsu and Happy, she should have spent all of today in bed and just rest, but she couldn't, tomorrow was Blonde Day and she had to find the job so she could present it to a cranky Lightning Dragon Slayer.

So as soon as they got back, she situated herself in front of the request boards. Hours started passing, and her guildmates began to either send her worried glances or admire her devotion. She couldn't stop looking for the perfect mission now, she wouldn't just give up like a weakling. She's spent so much time searching that she had even struck up an unlikely camaraderie with Nab, both of them fantasizing and drooling over the mental depiction of the perfect job.

The blonde mage had only left her spot once to 'sneak' upstairs to the second floor. On the second floor she had paced, eyeballing the holy S-Class request board and slowly inching towards it, only to throw herself back when she got within two yards of it, never getting a good look at the few papers there. She wouldn't get in trouble if she performed an S-Class job with Laxus, but she didn't think she was allowed to actually pick out one or even caress the wooden frame of the request board, no matter how much she desired to.

The soft voice that had been pestering her suddenly shouted in her ear, "The library is on fire! The books are burning!"

" _What_?!" Lucy yelled back frantically, twirling around so fast that the guild around her was reduced to a blur and she almost toppled over herself. _No, the books_! She lunged to her right towards the library, her heartbeat skyrocketing in her chest as her hands immediately jerked down to her belt for her keys.

Lucy didn't get very far before something dry and scaly wrapped around her waist and jerked her back. Her stomach lifted into her throat as the floor vanished underneath her, and the next thing she knew, she was flat on her back staring up at a humongous, but very sheepish and apologetic, white snake with slit blue eyes. A yellow, almost pixelated, light flashed over the snake's entire body, and a moment later a shamefaced Lisanna stood in its place.

"Oh, Lucy, I'm so sorry!" The Strauss sibling immediately apologized, bending down and slowly helping the blonde to her feet. Lisanna wiped the nonexistent dust from Lucy's shoulders and fussed over her with remorseful, cerulean blue eyes that matched her older sister's. "I was just trying to get your attention, I never meant to cause you to panic!" Lisanna hurriedly complained, looking devastated as she checked the blonde for any scrapes or bruises.

"I…" Lucy whispered, somewhat dazed. Her eyes started shining with tears of relief as she grabbed Lisanna's hands. "The… the library really isn't on fire?"

The Take-Over mage giggled and nodded. "It's not on fire," she promised, but Lucy still craned her head to get a glimpse of the library's door, just to make sure.

Only after Lucy was satisfied that the precious novels, maps, encyclopedias weren't being engulfed by flames, she dropped Lisanna's hands and rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. She must have really surprised the other mage. Lucy smiled shyly. "Sorry about freaking out on you then." The silver-haired mage assured her it was fine, and Lucy blinked at her before asking, "What did you need? Did something bad happened? Do you need help at the bar, I'll be glad to work!"

Lisanna clasped her hands together behind her back and tilted her head towards the guild's central seating area. When Lucy followed the gesture, she was shocked to see a completely barren scene. Not a single table had someone seated at it, and the silence was nearly overwhelming.

No Natsu and Gray fighting over who could eat an entire chicken quicker, no Macao and Wakaba trying to see if they could lick their elbows, no Elfman accidentally smashing glasses when he toasted other members of the guild, nothing. Fairy Tail was empty of its mages or noise. The blonde backed up and turned her head this way and that, trying to get a glimpse of someone, but could only see Mira wiping the bar down. The other Strauss only stopped her cleaning to wave at Lucy.

"Everyone's… gone?" The celestial mage said uncertainty, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "When did that happen?" Just how much time had passed while she stood staring at the request boards?

"It's past midnight, Lucy," Lisanna informed her kindly. "Everyone went home, even Cana." The other mage paused to take a moment to study the blonde, took in her slumping form and the purpling under her eyes. Lisanna frowned in concern and murmured, "I think you should go home, Lucy, you look absolutely exhausted."

Lucy exhaled heavily, and her slumping only worsened. "Yeah," she agreed tiredly. "Yeah, okay." It was a good idea, she needed sleep so she wasn't a complete zombie tomorrow.

Lisanna fretted over Lucy's shoulder as they walked towards the guild's doors, asking if she wanted someone to walk her home or an extra jacket, to which Lucy declined with an honest smile, saying she had Plue to keep her company. She got a few more concerned looks from the youngest Strauss sibling, but Lisanna didn't try to suffocate Lucy in jackets or wake everyone up in Fairy Hills to accompany her home.

The two female mages shared a warm goodbye and then the doors closed with Lucy on the other side. The celestial mage sighed, stared up at the great wooden doors for a few more seconds, and turned around to begin her journey home. The blonde's lower lip started wobbling, but she kept in the tears of frustration. All she had wanted was a job just for her and Laxus so she could get to know him better. Everything else was refusing to go her way, so was that too much to ask? Now she had run out of time... maybe she'd find one next week.

Maybe, but all she knew now was that she'd be bringing nothing to the table tomorrow except a large spread of food. She wasn't even going to try bringing the deck of cards again, there was no use. Lucy tilted her head up to the sky, and tried to find the moon, but there were too many clouds blocking it. Questions and doubts were spinning around in her head, and Lucy tried her best to ignore them. She just hoped that Laxus would have just a simple 'okay' time with her tomorrow.

* * *

The diners in the Strawberry Street Café were feeling uncomfortable, enough so that a few of the weak ones had already hightailed it out of there with their coffee in one hand and their half-eaten pastries in another. None of the customers dared to restart their own conversations or even ask a waiter for another tea, afraid of making noise and then facing the consequences.

At one point the bell above the café's door had rang loudly through the silent atmosphere when a potential customer had entered, and every figure in the restaurant stiffened. The young women that had been the unfortunate one to open the door had only taken one step into the business before she was met with numerous heads turning towards her and shooting her terrified looks, urgently trying to warn her to run while she still could. Because the woman valued her life, she walked right back out.

The tension was almost palpable in the air, and it was all coming from the two silent blonde mages seated in the corner of the café. No one dared look in their direction for longer than a few seconds, and even the wait staff were afraid to approach them and remove the mounds of dirty plates that littered the table lest their hands get bitten off by either Fairy Tail members.

Lucy's eyes narrowed at the lightning mage in front of her. An amazing personality change had happened to her during that afternoon. She had started out wanting nothing more than easy conversation, and she'd been desperate to get the man before her to talk and engage in chatting with her, but now everything had change. She had confessed in Leo all those days ago that she had the tendency to snap, and she hadn't been kidding around.

An hour filled with Laxus sulking and shrugging and grunting and generally being no help at all had caused her to slide into this deadly calm demeanor where she just couldn't gather enough energy to care. And the little shit known as Laxus Dreyar knew it.

She'd tried so many times to engage him in conversation, but he either gruffed out a monosyllabic word or blatantly ignored her. Lucy used every get-to-know-you question she could think of. Everything from 'what's your favorite color?' to 'cats or dogs?'. She got so desperate that she started to _gossip_ , revealing the latest news concerning their friends, but nothing worked. Laxus held zero interest in the flying rumors about scandalous relationships or the fact that Bisca and Alzack finally convinced Makarov that building an illegal gun range in the basement was a good idea.

Mavis, at one point the celestial mage had even brought up Wendy, undoubtedly everyone's favorite female dragon slayer, and how she was out on a three week mission with Lamia Scale's Chelia, and _nothing_. Not a single reaction other than a breezy 'that's nice'. It was beyond annoying.

He had stared at her the entire time she had watched him eat, his eyes never leaving hers and daring her to say something else while he devoured entrée after entrée. But now he was done with his food, and he had pulled the rug out from under her feet when he reached into his coat's pocket and placed a rectangular object on the table.

"What's this?" Lucy murmured, her tense voice practically a scream compared to the silence that encompassed their surroundings. She pointed one slender finger to the table where the small, golden box lay. The box was wrapped professionally in gold paper and had the cutest little bow, but Lucy eyeballed it like it would explode without a moment's notice.

Laxus shrugged yet again and simply said, "Open it."

With the utmost caution and carefulness, the celestial mage slowly, ever so slowly, lifted off the lid. The golden paper crinkled under her hands, and as soon as Lucy got one good look inside the slim box, she promptly dropped the lid on the table in shock. The blonde rubbed her eyes with her hands, and tilted her head in confusion when the contents of the box still hadn't changed.

Her head snapped up to meet the gaze of a bored lightning mage. "What _is_ _this_?" She sounded a tad harsher than she wanted to, but Lucy was still stupefied over the image of six, beautifully decorated chocolates sitting daintily in the box that Laxus had placed on the table.

And, Mavis, the chocolates weren't the cheap kind either, the kind that businesses tried to make look fancy and only costs around 200 jewels. Like any other self-respecting woman, Lucy knew her chocolate brands; the swirling insignia stamped on the piece of fondant placed precisely on top of one chocolate exposed that these little delicacies came from the quaint, extremely expensive, bakery in the middle of the Magnolia shopping area. Yes, Laxus had given her _gourmet chocolates_.

Laxus stopped trying to peer into her soul to frown down at his box. "It's chocolates," he said it slowly, syllable by syllable, his face clearly revealing just how idiotic he thought she was being. Lately, he tended to wear that expression whenever she was around. "Look, do you want them or not, Blondie?"

"I didn't mean to sound so rude, I'm sorry." Lucy apologized truthfully, still shocked as she gently fingered the dark brown paper that the chocolates rested on. She had sounded too harsh, and she was regretting that now. "Not that I'm complaining, because, really, I'm not, but why did you get me chocolates?" The smaller blonde took this moment to drag the box of chocolates closer to her, afraid he might take it away if he became angry at her prying.

Seriously, though. Laxus giving her fancy desserts? Lucy didn't know how to feel about it. It was certainly a good thing, especially when she loved chocolate, but it was also awfully suspicious for a man who refuses to tell her his favorite color to give her such a nice treat. Lucy paused and squinted at the man again. "Are you bribing me for something?"

"No." The dragon slayer clipped out and turned his head to the side, averting her probing gaze. "They're for… you know…" he drifted off without completing his sentence. The slayer made unhelpful hand gesture that Lucy wouldn't even try to decipher while the man's face scrunched up in frustration. A moment passed, and he still refused to move his line of sight from the café's door.

Laxus was avoiding her gaze, and Lucy's curiosity suddenly reared its head. She placed her forearms on the table and leaned herself forwards, thankful that they had shoved aside the dirty plates, to get a good look at a very uncomfortable Laxus. The man let out a low curse and a small bead of sweat made its way down the blonde mage's temple. It was a rare thing to see the Lightning Dragon Slayer sweating in discomfort, and she wasn't going to just dismiss it. Lucy felt compelled to photograph this moment or write it down.

Still halfway across their table, Lucy fervently nodded. "For what?" she prompted eagerly, feeling an ounce of excitement spark up inside her. Did he get her chocolates to confess his intent on becoming her friend? Probably not, but she could dream. Lucy smiled encouragingly at the other blonde.

" _You know_ ," Laxus stressed it harder this time, as if putting more force behind the same words would clear everything up. When she obviously didn't have an epiphany, the lightning mage finally stopped longingly staring at the doors as if he was attempting to telepathically communicate with the _Raijinshū_ , begging them to appear and rescue him. He eyed her and her obvious anticipation as his voice lowered, "to apologize for the whole… Phantom Lord and Fantasia thing." It was almost a whisper.

What? Lucy's excitement died right there and then while her mind whirled with the questions that immediately popped up in her head. She pulled herself back to sit properly in her seat again as she blinked at Laxus with a dumbfounded look on her face. While Laxus sat there stiffly, waiting for her to respond, Lucy was pretty sure she was experiencing a hallucination created from the lack of sleep she got yesterday.

After a pinch to her thigh -she just had to be sure- Lucy cried out, " _Huh_?!" Confusion shone clearly in her brown eyes while she tried to wrap her head around what Laxus had just said. The chocolates were an... apology for the whole Fantasia fiasco? Laxus was _apologizing_? Why was he apologizing, he had already earned the guild's forgiveness.

Unless... he didn't believe them. "Laxus," Lucy whispered, all of a sudden deadly serious, and she folded her arms on the table. "You know we've all forgiven you for your actions during Fantasia, right? You don't have to keep apologizing for that anymore."

For some reason, Laxus breathed in deeply and let out a ragged exhale, making it seem as if he was in immense pain. He held up his hand, palm towards her, as he did so. " _Not_ that," the slayer was somehow able to growl out while grinding his teeth together.

"Then what?" She eyed him doubtfully. What else could have possibly happened that made him want to apologize to her with chocolates? Again, not that she was necessarily complaining. Free chocolates was the best type of chocolate, especially the more expensive ones.

One of Laxus' large hands came up to rub at the back of his neck as he opened his orange eyes and met her gaze resignedly, like it was the worst thing to ever happen to him. Mavis, the man made it seem like she was pulling his teeth to get him to admit the truth. "You know..."He muttered with slumping shoulders.

And there he was saying the words ' _you know_ ' again. When would he understand that Lucy didn't know? That she knew absolutely nothing when it came to the blonde lightning mage. She was as clueless as Natsu was during that one real estate seminar Team Natsu had been forced to attend while on an undercover mission. And, ah, that had been an absolutely delightful mission. To her, the seminar had been oddly engaging, and Gray had to use physical force to stop her from buying a foreclosed condo.

"-during Phantom Lord's attack against Fairy Tail and at Fantasia, the _Raijinshū_ and I -well no, fuck, just me, actually," Laxus said cagily, and Lucy had to wipe the jewel signs and cheaply priced condos from her head and refocus. The fellow blonde sighed and ran a hand through his blonde locks. "I'm giving you the damn chocolates to _apologize_ ," he was practically sneering the word, which seemed very counterproductive to what he was aiming for, "for acting like a shitty asshole and making certain comments on your… body."

Silence encompassed them and the customers, who had all just breathed a collective sigh of relief when the two scary blonde mages had started talking and stopped acting like they were ready to leap at the other one's throats, tensed up again. One of the patron's toddler started crying, and the father rushed to hush the child.

"You," Lucy murmured, now almost positive she was dreaming or hallucinating or _something_. She felt light-headed, was it getting hotter in here? "You bought me some 'I'm sorry I objectified you' chocolates?"

Was this real life, was this actually happening to her? Laxus Dreyar physically went to one of the most expensive, fancy dessert vendors in all of Magnolia with that his terrifying scowl of his which made grown men cower and his big, burly mafia coat flapping around his shoulders, and bought her 'I'm sorry I objectified you' chocolates?

The corner of Laxus' mouth twitched, but not in the way it would be if he was holding back a smile, along with a vein in his forehead. Lucy was worried he was about to explode -he looked like he was about to explode- but then Laxus shut his eyes, relaxed his shoulders, and inhaled deeply again. The fellow blonde was eerily calm on the outside, and Lucy was panicking on the inside, afraid he was centering himself so he could deck her with a particularly powerful punch. Lucy scooched back in her chair and gulped.

When he opened his orange eyes, they weren't filled with fury like Lucy thought they would be, just a blank mask. "Yes," he hissed it through his teeth, but it was better than a yell. So he _did_ buy her 'I'm sorry I objectified you' chocolates.

"Is this…" Lucy whispered, feeling faintly delirious. "Is this a dream? Or are you joking-" Lucy stopped there, and a horrible thought crossed her mind. Was it... was it all one giant joke? It couldn't be, right? Laxus would never be that cruel. Lucy tried not to assume something so rash, but doubt began creeping into her head. For him to give her _chocolates_ was so completely out of character that it just couldn't be genuine. Her voice suddenly wobbled when she whispered, "You're not messing around with me again, are you?"

When the other mage saw the crushing devastation that caused her facial features to fall, he unexpectedly gripped the edge of the table with his hands and his mouth twisted in the largest grimace she had witnessed on him to date. The wood under his fingers creaked worryingly, and the blonde man just sat there, not even giving her a nod or shake of his head.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked quietly as she wrung her hands together, squeezing them until her knuckles paled. That wasn't the reaction of someone who was pulling a prank on her would have, right? It definitely wasn't. Lucy's mounting melancholy started declining, only to be replaced with concern as Laxus continued his attempt to snap their table in half. She'd never seen Laxus like this before, and it was beginning to make her worry.

Before she could say anything else, Laxus cringed, causing his face to twist up in an unflattering way. "For fuck's sake, are we good or not?" Instead of a question, it came out as a weak, desperate demand.

And just like that her concern for him vanished with a puff of smoke. Lucy barely kept herself from reaching up and pulling out her own hair. A strangled groan of frustration slipped past her lips, and the celestial mage had to take a moment to breathe so she didn't snap. With a sigh of defeat, she exasperated, "What can you possibly mean _now_?" She propped her elbow up on the table and rested her cheek in her hand as she watched him stiffly shift in his chair.

The lightning mage slowly went from miserable to irritated, the change on his face was a smooth transition that could only be mastered with many years of practice. Frowning, he ceased his crushing grip on the table to start tapping his index finger impatiently against the surface top. "Are we good…" As he tilted his chin he squinted at her, examining the other blonde like she was a troublesome piece of mud stuck underneath his boots. "Or not?"

Breathing deeply wouldn't help her any longer, and the smaller blonde let anger fill her. "Goddammit, Laxus, repeating's things won't help me understand you!" Lucy shouted as she threw her hands up the air in vexation. What was wrong with this man?!

Every single soul in the restaurant other than the Fairies jumped at her outburst, and two customers' flight or fight responses kicked in. The door slammed loudly behind them after they had ran out, and loud ringing pierced through the air as the bell swung wildly from the door's frame. Staff cowered behind the counter and the remaining citizens of Magnolia inside the café fearfully turned their attentions to one other, silently communicating that they were in this mess together and would survive it together.

Seething, Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and mirrored Laxus, tilting her chin up like she was more important than everyone else in the world. "What are you rambling about now?" she angrily demanded. "What do you mean if we're good or not? Why wouldn't we be 'good'?"

Much to her ever increasing ire, Laxus appeared just as confused as she was on the inside as he spread his hands, palm upwards, motioning to the entire interior of the cafe when he said, "I thought that was what this was all about? What 'Blonde Day'-" she was insulted the way he said it "-was about."

'What Blonde Day was about'? She inelegantly gaped at him, eyes widening and hands falling to her lap. He believed she invited him to Blonde Day because she wanted him to apologize? He thought that she was still holding a grudge against him? Lucy just... she couldn't believe it at first, and it _hurt._ Her fists clenched and she willed away the hot, stinging tears that had begun to form in her eyes. "You thought that I was some sort of bitter thirteen year old girl who has nothing better to do than hold grudges?" She scathed with a biting tongue, and Laxus started uncomfortably shifting around again.

Opening his mouth, Laxus scowled and was about to speak, but Lucy cut him to the chase. Oh no, she wasn't ready to let him talk, she wasn't done with him just yet.

"So which one did you think?" She jeered unpleasantly, wishing for all that she was worth that knowing what Laxus truly thought wouldn't hurt her this much. "Did you think that I would keep inviting you to this café until you apologized, or I was such a bitter and angry person that I would keep dragging you here to watch you suffer as revenge? Which one?" Is that what he really thought Blonde Day was?

The only warning she got was the vein in Laxus' forehead popping out and one of his infamous sneers, and then the dragon slayer was jumping up and slamming his closed fists on the table with a loud thud that could be easily heard throughout the otherwise silent café. "Fine, the first one!" He shouted, tiny bolts of electricity sparking dangerously around his arms, but Lucy wasn't afraid. "So, tell me, if not that, than _why_ am I here?"

"I can't tell you!" She screamed right back, standing up as well and half tempted to climb up on her chair to gain some height. Lucy was currently being towered over by a ticked Laxus, and she just wanted to switch it up for a change, have _him_ be in _her_ shadow. She furiously glared up at him, but Laxus wasn't the type to be intimidated so easily.

His face smoothed out before he gave her a flat look that she wanted to punch right off his face, but she knew that if she did, it'd hurt her more than it would him. "Oh, _really_ , Blondie." He deadpanned, but his eyes were alight with fire. "You can't tell me?"

Lucy spluttered with no comeback in sight because she really couldn't tell him, and she didn't want to cause a situation where he could pry. So instead of being an adult and arguing a fair point, she grabbed onto another thing to shriek about, "Stop calling me 'Blondie'!"

"And why would I do that?" He bent over her with that bored look plastered onto his face that only infuriated her further. What she would give to wipe that expression off his features.

After roping in some staggering thoughts that involved strangling the slayer, Lucy lifted up a hand and pointed to his very blonde head. "Because, I don't know if you haven't noticed this or not, but _you're_ blonde, Blondie!"

Laxus reeled back, the flat look momentarily disappearing to be replaced with shock. "I… shit-" At her own eyebrow raise, he recovered surprisingly quickly and the artificial dragon slayer sniffed, "I don't know kind of shit _you're_ trying to pull, but you're trying too hard."

Lucy cursed inside her head. _He's using my own topic avoidance technique against me_! _That bastard_! The Celestial Spirit mage let her hand fall to her side as she spat, "And you're not trying enough."

It seemed like they had both snapped at the same time because one minute they were staring dumbly at each other, and the next they turned on their heels and began marching towards the café's doors (after Lucy had thrown tip money on the table and snatched up the grommet chocolates, that is. She was mad, but not mad enough to stop her from eating chocolate. In fact, there would just never be a day where she'd be mad enough to stop eating chocolate), intent on leaving and escaping each other's general vicinity while they could.

But, of course, since they started walking out at the same time, the smaller blonde promptly ran straight into the other's side, which left them cursing the day the other one was born. Laxus, the dirty cheater, took this chance to speed on ahead while Lucy was regaining her smarts after _bouncing right off the stupid solid wall of muscle known as Laxus Dreyar_ , but the stellar mage was able to leap forwards and snatch a hold of his flapping coat before he could escape out the door. Lucy didn't actually _physically_ stop the lightning mage from storming out than she did screech and pray for him to stop himself when he noticed the pulling, which he thankfully did.

The Lightning Dragon Slayer glanced over his shoulder and aimed an offended glance at the other mage and her hold on his coat, but this time Lucy refused to release it. It was his fault anyways for not properly shoving his stupid arms through the stupid arm holes, which made it flap away like that as he was speed walking out. The flap-flapping was a beacon to her greedy hands, she couldn't have stopped herself.

They had been in this position before, and Lucy slowly came to realize that she couldn't just let him leave, no matter how much she also wanted to take off and curse him behind his back. Abruptly shy, Lucy ducked her head and whispered, knowing the slayer could hear her, "Will you come to the next Blonde Day?" She hadn't planned this fight at all, but now that Laxus knew she was neither trying to weasel something from him or inwardly begrudging him for something he's already repented for, would he feel more relaxed next time?

Laxus reached his hand back and jerked out his coat from her hold. He spared her one more annoyed glance before he pulled the door to the café open, _tsked_ , and walked away.

Lucy could only lean against the door frame and watch as Laxus shoved his hands in his pockets and marched indignantly down the street, continuously scaring passersby once they saw the deadly glower on his face. The celestial mage was too busy with her wistful staring to notice the whimpers of terror from the Strawberry Street Café's patrons behind her.

Was that a yes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I just... to the people who comment/leave kudos/or bookmark... I love all of you so much_


	6. Girls (and Gray) Gone Gossiping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FF.net was down today, and I almost had an extremely early midlife crisis

**_Chapter Six: Girls (and Gray) Gone Gossiping_ **

_'your secret is safe with me and all my friends'_

.

The rest of the week crawled by with an incredibly slow pace after the second disaster of Blonde Day, and Lucy spent most of that time either hiding in her apartment or taking on incredibly easy, solo missions that only flushed away a few hours at a time. The last one was a fantastic avoidance technique, even if her team was starting to worry about her.

It's only been four days of this cowardly routine, and she has already completed five delivery jobs (one of which was safely transporting the lacy undergarments of a shrewd teenage aristocrat to her boyfriend's mansion in some twisted, wealthy version of teasing), two bodyguard missions, a request to help a kind elderly gentleman clean and organize his house before his wife came back from her two week long knitting camp, and a few more miscellaneous ones.

By far Lucy's least favorite job was the one where she'd been hired to round up escaped, rampaging cows with Virgo. It left her smelling of a mixture between grass and barn stalls, a stench that not even five baths and cupfuls of scented lavender body wash could completely wash away. Natsu and Gajeel still complained every time she got within a twenty foot radius of them, bemoaning something about 'perfumed cow shit'.

Though Lucy now flinches away from any job that includes farm animals, at least she was able to perform some fun jobs too. One request in particular she was hired to pretend to be a member of the Magic Council. Her job was to petrify a group of children who were going around wreaking havoc in this small village and needed the good scare of incarceration to stop. That last one had been fun, especially when the parents signaled for her to demonstrate her magic to show she was 'legitimate'.

The blonde had happily summoned Scorpio, and the star alignment appeared with a golden flash of holy light, a pierce ringing of a bell, and a quite eager, ' _We are rockin' now_!'. After that the children ran away screaming, and Scorpio might have gotten a little too much into his role. To really 'drive the lesson home', he created a Sand Buster attack, and Lucy's already minuscule pay was docked for the fountain that was reduced to a pile of rubble.

The missions had all been a great way to stop thinking about a certain other blonde, and they had all added up so that Lucy now had enough to pay next month's rent, so that was good! But, she knew she couldn't keep hiding this way forever. She had to face Laxus.

That being said, Lucy decided she'd give herself just _one_ more day, and then she'd sprint back to the guild and search out the grumpy man. However, until then... she had gone back to her apartment to take a well needed break from the laborious jobs. Lucy had been wandering around her room, picking up trash and clothes that had been unceremoniously thrown onto the floor while she conversed with Mira through the communications lacrima propped up on her dresser.

The Celestial Spirit mage huffed as she dropped an armful of dirty clothes into her hamper as she thought about how it turned out it hadn't been necessary to take all the jobs in the first place. "So, you really are serious?" The blonde mage asked with an exasperated roll of her eyes. She shoved her hamper back into her closet while Mirajane nodded solemnly from across the room.

" _Laxus and the_ Raijinshū _left on a S-Class mission the day after Blonde Day_ ," Mira informed her with an apologetic glint in her eyes through the lacrima, her voice slightly muffled. Mira's silver hair swayed when she shook her head. " _I'm sorry, Lucy, but they haven't yet returned. Might not before this Thursday, too_."

Lucy could barely make out the Take-Over mage fixing dinner, her frilly white apron over her usual attire, on the other side of the lacrima. Lucy really needed to buy the newest model, she heard it had a way better protection quality.

Lucy snorted, wiped her hands on her shorts, and threw back her head to get her bangs out of her eyes. "Typical," she muttered darkly, nudging her hamper with her toe as she did. "At least he didn't pull a Gildarts and go on a five year mission, I guess." If he had, she would have tracked him down and joined them. Maybe even carry along a meal from the Strawberry Street Cafe, just to spite the man.

Mirajane had that look in her eyes that portrayed she wanted to reach through the lacrima and squeeze the blonde to death with affection. " _Aw, Lucy_ ," she cooed, voice as soft as a gentle breeze, " _Last Thursday couldn't have gone that badly, could it?"_

The younger woman turned her face towards her friend with a dejected expression. If only she _knew_. "You weren't there, Mira," she whimpered, and she almost grimaced when she remembered her pitiful display at the end. It had been the second time she had jumped him and begged him not to leave her sorry ass forever. She really was like a frantic girlfriend.

"It was pretty bad," she continued. "I mean, _bad_ bad. He thought I only invited him out to force him to apologize for his past actions!" Lucy gave a sad attempt at a growl as she stomped her away over to her trashcan and threw some scraps of paper away. The dragon slayer hadn't even once entertained the idea that she might be doing it to become his friend, he had immediately come to the conclusion that she wanted something from him. Someone needed to knock some sense into that man.

All she got from Mira was a gasp and a scandalized, " _Oh my."_ Mira, out of anyone, knew how much Lucy loathed being accused of holding grudges. It was more than just some pet peeve, Lucy _despised_ it.

Lucy threw her hands up into the air in frustration. She had no clue what to do. The second Blonde Day had almost been more of a train wreck than the first. Wait, no, it had been _definitely_ worse than the first one. They hadn't been jumping at each other's throats last Thursday. "I don't know if this is going to work out, Mira. I just have this… this..." her face scrunched up as she tried to figure out a way to phrase it. The blonde ended up lamely saying, "...this bad feeling."

Nothing had worked so far, and nothing was going her way. Why did good things happen to good people? She just wanted to slide into this endless pit of self-pity and complain the whole way down. Lucy refused to listen to the logical side of her that was screaming that it had only been two and a half weeks, not even a month.

Mirajane made a faint, wounded noise in the back of her throat, and the model put a slender hand over her chest as if she had been shoot in the heart. " _Lucy, I wish I could just reach out and give you a giant hug! And don't you worry about a thing, it's just the beginning. You still have plenty of opportunities to befriend Laxus!"_

Shaking her head, Lucy softly whispered, "Laxus and I just seem to be a bad mix, Mira." She smiled sadly and dug her toes into her rug. Self-pity pit, here she comes. "And I wish you could give me a hug too. I really need it." Self-pity went great with hugs and just a huge bowl of potato salad and Kobe beef.

That seemed to strike a chord in the other mage, because Mirajane's arms flopped down uselessly to her sides and she got a scary glint in her cerulean blue eyes that even Lucy could recognize through the fuzziness of the communications lacrima. " _If you'll excuse me_ ," Mira unexpectedly said , reaching for her lacrima as Lucy gulped, " _but I have a quick call to make. Be back in a jiffy, I promise."_

The oldest Strauss sibling didn't even wait for Lucy to excuse her. As soon as she finished her sentence, Mirajane's image immediately flickered out when the communications lacrima broke its connection, leaving Lucy blinking alone in her room, wondering what in Earthland had just happened. Had Mirajane just upped and left her? Without any warning other than she'd be back quickly? _What_.

Had Lucy just been ditched? Kinda-ditched? Mira _did_ say she would be back, after all. The blonde looked around her now clean room and bit her lower lip. Should she… should she feel offended? Hurt? Surprised? Perhaps angry? Lucy was still a little down from openly admitting that Laxus and her maybe just were not meant to become friends, but she was also very confused.

Reaching forwards, Lucy tapped the clear ball, but Mira's smiling face didn't reappear. The only face in the lacrima was the warped one of her own being reflected by the crystal. She harrumphed and slightly pulled away, watching her reflection's lips drawl down into matching pouting frown as she did. She tried to be angry, but just couldn't. The other mage had promised she'd be back as soon as she could, right?

After a few more moments of staring and contemplating, Lucy turned around and hesitantly walked over to her desk where an unfinished letter to her mother lay. Mirajane had called her as she had been writing it, the Take-Overmage wanting to know how the second Blonde Day had gone and why Lucy hadn't stopped by the guild in awhile other than to scare her fellow guildmates when she snatched up the jobs from right under their unsuspecting fingers.

Lucy sat down in her chair with the gradualness of a sloth, looking back over her shoulder every ten seconds to check the communications lacrima. She had been picking up her quill when a voice cheerfully announced through the still air, " _Okay, I'm back_!"

Lucy rushed from the chair, almost taking herself out when she promptly tripped over herself. She ran back over to her tall dresser and bent over the lacrima, sticking her face right up to it. Inside the crystal ball Mira waved, a relieved smile pulling at her lips and frilly apron still tied around her neck.

"Mira, that wasn't nice!" Lucy immediately pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. She quipped up a brow and interrogated, "Where'd you go? Why'd you leave me like that?" Lucy pulled out all the stops, making her bottom lip quiver and even managed a little, obviously staged, sniffle that she was quite proud of.

The silver-haired mage put a finger to her lips and winked. " _I can't tell you, it's a secret_ ," she disclosed cryptically before making a 'go on' hand gesture with both her hands. " _Now, continue on telling all your Laxus-induced troubles to me_!"

Lucy's cheeks dusted a light rose at that, and she picked at the fraying hem of her shorts. With on violent pull, she was unable to yank out a long strand while she ducked her head in embarrassment. As it was expected of her, she denied the offer, "Aw, Mira, I don't-"

Thankfully Mirajane interjected, because Lucy wouldn't have been able to coherently finish that sentence, " _Nope, none of that. Get it all out, you need to vent, and I'll gladly be your audience. All you need to do is promise me that you'll name me the 'Godmother' of your first child. That is all_." Mira had put it dispassionately, as if it was just a silly title and not the honor that everyone knew the Strauss sibling would write down onto paper, frame, and hang over the bar for all to see.

Lucy waited her to spew something else about babies out but, surprisingly, nothing more came. Mentally shrugging, Lucy checked her chin. "Okay," she murmured uncertainty while eyeing Mira's pleasant and utterly innocent face. That had been weird and awfully suspicious, but she knew she wouldn't get anything out of Mirajane no matter how hard she tried. Perhaps later if she could manage to coerce the Take-Over mage to indulge in a few drinks. Lucy could even arrange a drinking challenge from Cana.

Letting it go (for now), the celestial mage climbed over her bed to draw the curtains closed, for it was starting to get dark outside. "I think he hates me," she whined as she thumped down to sit on her bed. "You said it yourself, Laxus went on a long mission with his cheer squad, he definitely won't be back before Thursday if he can help it."

She could even picture the lightning mage purposely sabotaging his job in hopes to delay its completion. Maybe electrocute the town's mayor in hope of being imprisoned and be prosecuted for attempted murder or something. Laxus could even sick the _Raijinshū_ on the mayor. Who knows, maybe Bickslow and Evergreen would seize the opportunity to finally settle that argument they had awhile ago about who could seduce Magnolia's mayor quicker. Different mayor, but still the same seducing technique.

Mirajane had the gall to tutt and shake her head at the stellar mage and her troubles. The action became slightly terrifying when Mira picked up a giant, glinting kitchen knife from out of nowhere and started chopping up some celery. " _Lucy, I know you're upset about Laxus' actions, but now I think you're overreacting. Laxus doesn't hate you, you're_ nakama. _He could never hate anyone in Fairy Tail, not even Natsu_." The other mage giggled. " _And Natsu's the one who's constantly bugging him to fight him."_

Turning serious, Mira harnessed her inner, disconcerted mother and leveled Lucy a serious look, _"You understand that, right? That Laxus doesn't hate you?"_

Lucy shrank back from Mira's disappointed gaze, and hunched in her shoulders as her hands clenched fistfuls of her pink quilt. "Okay, so maybe he doesn't _hate_ me," she admitted begrudgingly, shrugging. But he certainly didn't like her. The celestial mage let go of her quilt and was able to meet Mira's eyes as she said confidently, "He does hate Blonde Day though, you can't deny that. Every time he always acts like he's… in pain or something." He also refused to cooperate, much to her frustrations.

" _He's never spent time with you like this before, of course he's uncomfortable_ ," Mira perceptively pointed out, and Lucy huffed. She was totally taking Laxus' side now. " _You know, you shouldn't be so quick to criticize him. In the real world, it takes a lot longer than two days to become someone's friend."_

Putting a hand to her chest, Lucy gasped, offended. The Take-Over mage was berating _her_! There had been a complete one-eighty in Mira's personality, it was like someone completely flipped her 'sympathy' switch to off. The blonde guffawed and desperately searched her head to come up with a retort to Mirajane's betrayal. Hadn't the older woman just told her that she would listen to her complaints?

" _Mira_ ," the blonde mage wheezed. She hopped off her bed, keys clanking on her belt, and walked up to the communications lacrima. Lucy took the orb off its stand and into her hands. "Why are you all of a sudden Team Laxus?"

Lucy peered down at the lacrima. She searched Mirajane's slightly fuzzy stature for clues to her unexpected disloyalty, like a 'Laxus for Guild Master' button proudly gleaming on her bust, anything. Something that would explain why Mira wasn't telling Lucy that everything would be alright, supporting the idea that Laxus was being unnecessarily cruel to her, and sending mental head pats through the lacrima.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go at all. Lucy would rant her frustrations and Mira would be the compassionate soul she was and kindly listen before offering her wise, all-knowing advice. Just like Lucy had done with Leo all those nights ago.

Though the communications lacrima only showed Mira from chest up, Lucy just knew that the silver-haired mage was putting her hands on her hips. " _I'm terribly sorry if I'm coming off as insensitive-"_ then why did she not sound sorry at all "- _but I really do think it's time you stop focusing on the negative and start fixing your problems. If you're so worried and unhappy at your current situation, then go out and do something about it when he comes back from his mission_."

Mira's words hit deep. Lucy exhaled nice and slowly and glanced heavenward. She knew that Mirajane was right, but she didn't want to admit it so easily. Lucy's eyes shifted to everywhere but Mira. She had just thought that she deserved a little ranting time after what she had gone through, but apparently the Take-Over mage wasn't going to let her.

Mira chuckled at Lucy's obvious pouting, and the next moment the woman was smiling at her. _"Really,"_ Mira shook her head and spoke lightheartedly, " _If you really wanted to complain to someone, you should have complained to Natsu. As your best friend, he would have blown a fuse and challenged Laxus in the name of your honor."_

While Mira giggled to herself, the Celestial Spirit mage paused at that, and she grimaced. "I... well," Lucy shifted the spherical lacrima to one hand and used the other to rub nervously at her neck. Sheepishly, Lucy disclosed, "I don't think he knows about Blonde Day." She'd been thinking about the accident ever since she got back from that horrible demolition job.

The other mage stopped her soft laughing and appeared shocked. " _I thought_ …" Mira drawled slowly, eyebrows pinching together as she did. The silver-haired beauty flicked her blue eyes upwards, and she looked like she was trying to remember something. " _I thought,_ " Mirajane started out hesitantly, " _I thought you told me at the bar that this whole thing was a secret that only you, Happy, and Natsu knew? Is Natsu… does he not know_?"

The Take-Over mage was obviously confused, and Lucy didn't blame her because so was she. The celestial mage let out a low hiss and shrugged helplessly. "Well, he should…" Lucy paused, recalling how Natsu was the one to point out that her and Laxus were both blonde. "I mean, he's technically the one who came up with Blonde Day."

At Mira's beyond perplexed 'huh', Lucy told her friend what had happened after Natsu had asked her if they could stay longer. She described how the fire mage had given her that strange, funny look and asked why she had wanted to get back before Thursday. When she was finished, Mira's baffled face broke out into another round of fond laughter for their favorite Fire Dragon Slayer. Mirajane's laughter was contagious, and Lucy found herself chuckling along for a little bit.

" _My, my, he completely forgot, didn't he_?" Mira sniggered as she brought up a hand to wipe at the imaginary sweat at her brow. " _Whew, you know, Lucy, that was just what I needed to perk up the rest of my night_! _Maybe…_ " the woman had to collect herself before she could continue. Only after she could stop laughing did Mira unconvincingly assure her, " _Maybe he was just playing with you?_ "

"I hope so," the blonde mage glanced away and muttered. She was about to add something else, but then the sound of the doorbell rang throughout her apartment, effectively causing her to jump in the air and nearly drop the communications lacrima in the process. "Wha?!" She spluttered as she fumbled with the orb in her hands.

Only after she was sure she wasn't about to accidentally drop Mira, Lucy eyed the numbers on her clock. Someone was at her door? At half an hour to ten o'clock at night? Had something bad happened? A twinge of nervousness grew in her stomach at the idea that one of her _nakama_ had rushed over to her apartment because it was an emergency. She frowned down at Mirajane, questions already on her tongue-

Lucy froze.

Mirajane hadn't reacted at all, still grinning up at her and even twirling a strand of her silver hair around her index finger. She was suspiciously unaffected by the loud ringing of her doorbell. In fact, the Take-Over mage continued to smile lazily, and she waved her hand -the one with the knife in it- as she chimed in nonchalantly, " _I think you should get that. It might be important._ "

Once again, the doorbell sounded impatiently in the distance, and Lucy narrowed her eyes as she asked somewhat accusingly, "What did you do?"

Mirajane's gasped dramatically. She might haven even gone as far as pretending to act offended, but communications lacrima abruptly lost its clear connection and the other mage's physique developed into a messy, gray blur. " _Why, Lucy_!" the Take-Over mage's voice wavered in pitch and fizzled with what must have been static while her voice started to cut in and out, " _I haven't… slightest idea to what you're… about_." The image of Mira dissipated.

"Mira?" Lucy inquired, bringing the orb closer and peering into its crystal depths. "Mira, are you there?" She shook the lacrima, but got nothing. Okay, now she was _really_ suspicious. Even though the lacrima was an older model, not once had it ever done _that_. Lucy rolled the sphere in her hands and inspected it, searching for any cracks and not finding any. Whatever had happened to their connection had not been natural.

Lucy carefully put the lacrima back on its golden stand and bit the inside of her cheek. The craziest idea passed through her head when she stepped away from the dresser. Had Mira purposely tampered with the connection on her end with magic? First she disappeared to make a sudden call, and now this? Something was definitely up with the mage today, and Lucy wasn't so much she wanted to know what it was.

The doorbell ringing for the third time that night snapped Lucy out of her chaotic thoughts. She could question Mirajane about it later. Plus, whoever was at the door had gotten impatient because without any warning, a horrible cracking sound interrupted the doorbell's chime and an ear-deafening crash exploded from her living room.

The blonde didn't even need to hear the awful scraping of wood sliding against the floor to know what had happened. " _My door_!" She screeched, and she flung herself out of her room with a cry of sorrow. She had _just_ paid for the door to be replaced last week, and it had cost her _125,000 jewels_! The blonde ran into her living room, and paled when she saw her newly replaced door come to a slow, achingly slow, stop at her feet.

Her door gently nudged her ankles, and Lucy miserably stared down at it. Where the door handle should be was a piece of metal that had collapsed in on itself, the wood around it cracked and splintering. She wanted to bend down and whisper reassuringly to it that everything would be okay, it had done its job to the best of its ability, but what sounded like a heard of elephants stomped up to her gaping doorway.

"Lucy of Fairy Tail!" A voice heartily called with too much gusto needed for this time of night, and Lucy meekly looked up.

None other than Erza Scarlet strutted proudly into Lucy's apartment, throwing her head back and laughing haughtily as soon as she stepped over the door-less threshold. Behind her Erza pulled a heavy metal cart, wheels screeching horribly as they scratched up the floor. Three suitcases were packed on the hunk of metal, and they all appeared so stuffed that they were nearing their snapping point. One in particular, if she looked closely enough, was already shaking like it was about to explode. That couldn't be a good sign.

The Requip mage's chocolate brown eyes were alight with a vivacious energy as they scanned the room, and a shining smile instantly pulled at her lips when she spotted Lucy. Even though Erza was without her usual shining armor -a matching pink pajama set in its place- she leaked superiority. Erza was like a breath of fresh air to Lucy's gloom, and the stellar mage couldn't help but straighten up her sloping posture in response.

Erza marched straight up to the blonde with the ever prominent gleam of responsibility in her eyes, dropped the handle to her cart, and threw her arms over the celestial mage.

As soon as the thick cords of muscle known as Erza's biceps wrapped around her, Lucy's diaphragm was constricted to a pulp, only able to let out a strangled wheeze instead of the cry for help that she so dearly wanted. Erza was seeming unaware of Lucy's impending doom because the Requip mage only squeezed tighter and used her height to lift the shorter woman off the ground.

"There, there, Lucy," Erza hushed her as she guided Lucy's purple-ing face to the crook of her neck. For some reason the scarlet-haired woman also decided to sway them from side to side, and Lucy's feet kicked against her hugger's shins. The only saving grace was that Erza was wearing her 'in no way sharp and endangering to Lucy's own soft, easily pierced flesh' pink pajamas. "It's all better now, I'm here."

Miraculously, Lucy was able to slightly push away from her teammate's chest to gasp and rasp out, " _Erza_ … I'm dyi-" She couldn't get out the rest as Erza squeezed her closer.

Her surroundings were getting darker and darker when Erza sniffled above her and rested her cheek atop of Lucy's blonde head. "I said it's _alright_ , Lucy, you do not have to reside here all by your loneself any longer!" She exclaimed to the world and Lucy's thrashing form. " _Shh_ , you are now safe and secure in my arms, and I will have my head decapitated from my body before I release you!"

"Erza!" a much higher pitched, and panicked, voice shouted. "Let go of Lu-chan, you're killing her!" Small hands tugged at the Requip mage's forearms, and Lucy nearly cried out in relief when she recognized the frantic voice. _Levy_. Levy had come to save her.

Instantly, Erza pried her arms off with a shout of worry and Lucy was dropped to the ground. Her feet had barely touched her floor before gravity took hold of her and the Celestial Spirit mage began falling backwards. Fortunately for Lucy, Levy had been behind her. Unfortunately for Levy, she had been behind Lucy. Levy didn't so much as catch her friend as she did slow her descent to the ground with her own, much tinier body.

Levy stumbled -and for one stomach-in-the-throat moment, they almost toppled over together- but was able to hook her arms under Lucy's armpits and use pure will alone to keep them both up on their feet. They teetered precariously, and Erza rushed forwards to steady them, officially completing the Fairy sandwich.

"Levy?" Still somewhat out of breath from the accidental strangulation, Lucy whispered faintly into the Solid Script mage's trembling arms. Levy answered her with a strained huff of air that Lucy felt against the back of her neck. Lucy tilted her head to peer feebly up at the S-Class mage in front of her. "Erza? Why are you... why are you guys here?" And why, _oh why_ , did she have to do that to her door? What had it possibly done to deserve the same fate twice?

"Juvia is here also!" A blue-haired water mage piped in from out of nowhere, popping into Lucy's blurry line of vision to her right. The self-proclaimed Juvia grabbed ahold of the stellar mage and helped Erza support and right Lucy until she was able to stand by herself, much to the intense relief of Levy.

They all stared at each other for a confused, silent second, and then Erza, Juvia, and Levy all unanimously fired off so many overlapping questions concerning Lucy's health and if she was truly dying that the blonde couldn't understand a lick of it. It was only after Lucy regained her breath and lost that dizzying light-headed feeling that she realized _all three_ woman were decked out in their pajamas, not just Erza

Lucy was a taken back, and her face must have shown it because the three crowded in around her even closer and asked what was wrong. Turning her head side to side so she could look at them all, Lucy probed warily, "Why are you three all here? And all in your pajamas, no less."

Lucy took another step backwards and bumped into her coffee table. Should she be worried? Did Levy burn down all of Fairy Hills this time and the three needed a place to stay?

"Actually…" A blob of silver hair peeked out behind Erza's stacked pile of suitcases in the cart, "I'm here too!" Lisanna giggled and absentmindedly played with her short hair. The youngest Strauss sibling stepped out around the cart, revealing her own adorable, penguin-infested pajamas. "Juvia was teaching me how to embroider when we overheard Mira-nee talking to Erza outside in the hallway. So we tagged along! I hope that's okay!"

Alarm bells went off in Lucy's head. She peered over Levy, which honestly wasn't that hard to do, and directed her exclamation to Lisanna, "Erza was talking to _Mira_?" With the way Lisanna said it, it sounded like that had happened only a short while ago, which would match up exactly with the time Mirajane hung up on her and mysteriously 'disappeared'. The Take-Over mage had called Erza? Why? And what did that have to do with everyone arriving in their pajamas?

Lisanna nodded, and Erza stepped in to explain with a respectful nod, "Mirajane got in touch with me to inform me that you had had a trying day, and needed someone to embrace you and drive your worries away." Erza gestured to her suitcases, to which Lucy was still sending nervous glances at. "I took it upon myself to arrange a sleepover between you, myself, and Levy to cheer you up. Juvia and Lisanna happened to overhear and wanted to join in on the fun."

Lucy gasped and brought her hands to her mouth when the S-Class mage finished her explanation. Mirajane had basically sent over the cavalry to take Lucy's mind off of yesterday? _That's_ what she had done? "We're having a sleepover?" Lucy whispered, this time in awe. Small bubbles of excitement started rising in her stomach at the thought one giant sleepover with some of her closest _nakama_. Suddenly she was incredibly glad that she had just gone shopping and restocked her fridge.

"Yes!" Erza confirmed with a brisk nod, and the rest of the female mages started exchanging fun crafts or activities they could do rapid fire. "You all are going to partake in the best, most cliché, sleepover known to Fairy Tail! We will paint our nails, binge on sweets, play truth or dare, and gossip!" she stated, brimming with confidence, and it garnered Juvia, Lisanna, and Levy's cheers of approval. Lucy wouldn't have been surprised if Erza materialized into existence a staff and started pounding in on the floor in declaration.

Without the blonde's permission, tears of happiness sprang to her eyes. She still couldn't get over the fact that they had come to comfort _her_. It was mind-boggling, and incredibly humbling. Yes, Lucy nearly committed a grave mistake. Even though she was failing to become Laxus' friend, that didn't mean that she could forget that she has her own. She had friends who loved her and would come running to her house without any hesitation just to come cheer her up from a bad day. The tears built up enough that a few of them slid down her cheeks, and all the girls froze when they spotted them.

Unconditional love for her family surged through her, and Lucy just took a moment to breathe it all in and study her _nakama_ who came to her rescue as if she had been a lonely princess in a tower. Except, in that case, screw knights in shining armor, Lucy had her four other princesses who liberated her from her imprisonment.

Before they could fret over her any longer, Lucy held out a hand to stop them in their tracks and used the other to wipe away the stray tears. "They're te-tears of joy," she laughed happily before her voice got caught up on a dry sob. Curious eyes of all colors watched her as Lucy fanned her face and laughed again. "I'm just so… so _grateful_ to have y-you all as my friends! _I love all of you so much_."

A cry unanimous cry of " _Lucy_!" sounded and then four female mages were tackling her to the ground in a giant dog pile. Shrieks and screeching laughter emitted from the dog pile as the girls jumped unto each other, dishing out affectionate noogies and proclaiming their eternal love for one another.

Lucy was peeling with laughter, even after she got Juvia's elbow to her lower intestines, as Erza -easily- wrestled her into a headlock, the scarlet-haired woman shouting at the top of her lungs, "You are a ray of light in Fairy Tail's downcast world!" It was quite poetic, Lucy was impressed while she blushed down to her roots.

Somewhere around the blonde's kicking feet, Juvia straddled Lucy's ankles with her own surprisingly muscular thighs, and proudly stated, "Juvia would die for Lucy!" There was a small ' _oopmf'_ from Lisanna when Juvia's out of control elbows got the Take-Over mage right in the chest. Everyone else winced in sympathy.

Slightly out of breath and completely wrapped around Erza's waist like a monkey, Lisanna kindly said from some place in the sweaty, quickly-overheating dog pile, "We really do love you-" there was an interrupting squeak as Levy took this opportunity to tickle the youngest Strauss sibling under the knees "- Lu-Lu- _Lucy_!"

The Celestial Spirit mage was positive that was a pat on her ass. "Lu-chan, if I had to pick between you and books, I'd burn the books!" Levy was about to tickle Lucy, but a dramatically disheveled Juvia scrambled her way over thrashing limbs and got to the Solid Script mage first.

Lucy was already sobbing with joy at this point, she was so happy. She didn't have time to profess her thankfulness at their too kind words (and profess her love again) because the heavy weight of a person was able to unbelievably knock Erza's headlock off, flop down on her back, and add, "Yeah, you're a pretty awesome person and mage, Lucy."

Everyone stilled at the familiar, _masculine_ voice. A voice that definitely didn't belong to either five of the girls.

Lucy was the first one to act. She propped herself up on her elbows and craned her head around behind her to be met with a shock of ink colored hair and serious dark blue, droopy eyes. She, along with the rest of the females, gaped and widened her eyes in pure surprise at the unexpected addition to their pile of limbs.

The blonde had been planning to screech the mage's name, had even been building the shout up in her throat, but Juvia beat her to it. Hearts appeared out of nowhere and swirled around the heap of Fairies as the water mage squealed, " _Gray-sama_!"

Practically synchronized, the rest of them winced simultaneously, Gray Fullbuster going as far as wrenching out his arm under Levy's stomach and rubbing his ear with the palm of his hand. The man nodded in acknowledgment, even though Juvia was currently facing the wrong direction and struggling to drag herself properly to his side which only made the tangle of bodies worse.

"Fancy meeting you here, Juvia," Gray deadpanned, but the slight pull at his lips gave away his inner amusement.

"Um, Gray..." Levy spoke up, squashed between Juvia and the Ice Make mage, much to Juvia's frustration and jealously. Lucy could _feel_ the petite mage confusion from the bottom of the dog pile as Levy squeaked, "Why are you here? Oh! But don't take that the wrong way!"

Gray's attempt at a shrug would have gone a lot better if he wasn't utterly tangled up with five other females. "I have no freakin' clue," he said casually, calm exterior not even cracking when Lisanna experimentally tickled the inside of his elbow. "One minute I was taking a walk by the canal, and the next I was swept up in this army of Fairy Tail females marching their way down the street."

With a great show of strength, Gray brought up a shaking arm (he'd been losing circulation in it ever since it got trapped under Lucy) to point at Erza's suitcases, one of which was opened and spilling clothes and a few daggers over the floor. "In the rush, I was shoved into that suitcase right there."

Erza hummed from above Lucy, "How peculiar."

Everyone scoffed, still rocking this synchronized actions thing, and Juvia spoke up hesitantly, "Perhaps Gray-sama can stay and participate in our sleepover…?" The water mage was much shyer now, and she stretched out a foot to poke Erza's arm for the S-Class mage's attention. There was a murmmur of agreements from the rest of the girls.

"You guys really want me to stay?" Gray asked, surprise evident in his voice. "I thought you were having the most cliché all-girls-no-boys-allowed, mega sleepover?" He wiggled around in an attempt to at least look Erza in the face, Lucy grunting in discomfort at the weight shift, but he couldn't manage it.

"I believe we can make an exception," Erza gave her consent and everyone welcomed Gray to the sleepover. Except Juvia, Juvia was too busy squealing in happiness -those damn elbows flailing around again- and promising to name her and Gray's firstborn after the S-Class mage. The scarlet-haired mage's proud laughter drowned out Gray's immediate denial, and Erza started up a conversation with Juvia that involved baby showers.

Honestly, sometimes the Requip mage was just as bad as Mirajane.

"Hold on," Lucy grunted out and kicked someone in the back as she grabbed a hold of Levy's calf like it was foothold. "Before we continue the sleepover, I just have one complaint." A very important one at that too.

Lisanna tugged at the blonde's shorts to convey that she heard her. "What is it, Lucy? What's wrong?"

The stellar mage paused before saying slowly, "Gray, where are your pants?"

Multiple, ear-piercings ' _what_?!'s cried out from the dog pile and, as if by magic, they untangled themselves and leaped away the furthest they could in a single bound, leaving a swearing Gray in the middle of the floor. Lisanna, face a bright, cherry red, threw herself behind Lucy's couch to preserve her innocence, and Juvia cursed herself for giving in to mob mentality and running away when she should have taken the chance to get closer.

"Hey, wait," Gray spoke up, and the abhorrent yelling died down in an instant. "I still am wearing pants!" And much to everyone's shock, it was true. There the Ice Make mage stood in her living room, dressed in a proper shirt, pants, and even _shoes_. He wasn't missing a single piece of clothing, and the rest of the mages were oddly disturbed by that.

When they all turned to Lucy, the blonde sheepishly laughed under the gaze of all the pairs of eyes. "Sorry," she apologized bashfully and twiddled her thumbs together. "It was just a habit, I guess." It honestly had been, she had just been expected Gray to be pant-less, he always was in potentially awkward moments like they had been in.

Was that weird? To automatically assume one of your friends had lost an article of clothing?

She was just about to apologize to Gray, maybe make it up to him by offering to make him her infamous mac n' cheese, when he held up his hand, effectively gaining the girls' attentions, and murmured, "Wait, hold on a second."

With both hands, Gray grabbed two of the belt loops on his pants and awkwardly shifted around. Instantly, he broke out into a large grimace that was almost as painful looking as Laxus' had been yesterday. Gray looked up at the girls, cringe still in place and growing more uncomfortable by the second.

The Ice Make mage's face grew paler than a sheet of paper. "Okay," he nodded to himself, now jumping from foot to foot. "I didn't lose my pants… but I did lose my boxers."

A dull thump resounded in Lucy's apartment when Juvia fainted, and the chorus of screams that followed pierced the air with such high frequency, that it felt like a few sound barriers had been shattered by their force.


	7. Ding Dong Ditched

_Chapter Seven: Ding Dong Ditched_

_'if the way to the heart is closed, you should knock on the kidneys'_

.

The sun was setting over the outline of Magnolia, casting a warm glow over the streets and shops as the noisy citizens of the town walked home or to the bars. One of these shops situated in Magnolia was the Strawberry Street Café, a fine establishment that was not only known for their absolutely delightful chocolate pastries, but also for their eight month maternity and paternity leave for their employees. This café's exterior walls were painted such a soft pink that it wasn't really the color pink anymore, and constantly got good reviews in the city's local papers.

As the sun began its descent in the sky, the last wave of customers inside the cozy café were beginning the end of their conversations and were drifting out at their own, leisurely pace. Though the café would not close until eight o'clock at night, the establishment usually found itself being emptied around six.

This usually was the case, but today was a little different. The restaurant had one straggler left, and this straggler was tucked away in the corner with no intentions of leaving until someone dragged her out by the back of her neck and threw her out the doors as she kicked and screamed insults. This type of resilient stubbornness, non surprisingly, came from a mage of Fairy Tail.

Lucy's fingers twitched forwards from where they had been previously being wrung together underneath the tabletop to readjust the position of the napkin holder. After she was satisfied, Lucy resumed her anxious hand wringing as she peered about the nearly empty café, blatantly ignoring the pitying looks the staff kept shooting her while they whispered to one another.

They knew why she was there, and they knew why she was _still_ there, waiting. It was almost embarrassing, really. At first she'd been furious at the pitiful looks they sent her because if she hated anything, it was pity. But after stewing in anger for over an hour and having every somber shake of an employee's head feel like a blow to her self-esteem, Lucy had taken a deep breath and calmed herself down. The wait staff at the Strawberry Street Café meant no offense, and the stellar mage was tired of being angry with them, it just wasn't in her nature.

The soft light of the fading sun filtered in through the café's wide windows, and Lucy hated it with a boiling passion because it meant the day was ending. She wished she could march straight up to the sun and push it back up into the sky, consequences be damned.

And all of this was because Laxus Dreyar hadn't shown up to Blonde Day.

The Celestial Spirit mage gulped and started tapping her foot against the wooden floor in an anxious rythm. It was only a few hours past three, so Laxus could still show up, right? And, okay, maybe it was more than just 'a few hours' past three. It was more like three and a half hours, but there was still a chance! _Maybe he just forgot, and he's rushing over right now!_ Lucy reassured herself, even though her instinct told her otherwise.

She had been here, sitting in one place, for nearly four miserable hours. Even though she knew that Laxus wasn't coming, Lucy just couldn't get herself to leave.

When Laxus hadn't come punctually waltzing through those doors like he owned the place at exactly three o'clock sharp, Lucy had been stupefied. Though she was well aware that the dragon slayer wasn't exactly having the time of his life during these Blonde Days, she hadn't actually believed he wouldn't _show up_. He didn't even have the guts to admit to her face that he was fed up with her and her 'crazy ideas', he just upped and ditched her.

And it wasn't like Laxus had blatantly stated he was done with Blonde Day. He hadn't said 'no' last Thursday when she asked if he would come again, he had tsked! When the hell did a tsk become to mean 'no'? Tsks didn't mean 'no', they meant 'I don't like this, but I'm going to begrudgingly do it anyways'!

Lucy's drooping eyes somberly gazed over the stacked piles of brown, cardboard boxes filled with food that decorated the table. Like usual, she had spent all the money in her pockets on food for the Lightning Dragon Slayer, and there it sat in front of the blonde, mocking her. When an hour had passed and Laxus hadn't showed up, the employees had decided to kindly box it up for her. The refrigerated food was probably spoiled by now, but Lucy didn't care. She just wanted to know how in the world she was going to carry it back home without throwing out her back like an elderly lady.

The worst part of it all was that Lucy couldn't blame this whole situation on anyone or anything other than herself. It would have been nice if the blonde could have taken solace in the illusion that Laxus couldn't have possibly come by because of that job he took, but that sadly wasn't the case. No, he had returned, and Mira had called her the moment they showed up at the guild to report it. The dragon slayer was back in Magnolia, and he had purposely abandoned Blonde Day.

The times they spent together on Thursdays were the only thing she had. She hadn't even been able to find a job for them after a week's desperate search. Nothing needed both a Celestial Spirit and Lightning mage. And to be realistic, even Lucy _herself_ couldn't think up a job that would need those two specific magics.

Lucy was snapped out of her circling thoughts when she felt a hand tap her shoulder, and she jumped. The Celestial Spirit mage turned her head and blinked owlishly up at the young man that had touched her.

A smartly dressed waiter with gelled back hair was fidgeting with his hands as he gazed mournfully down at her. Though he was nervous to deliver his surely upsetting news to the Fairy, he couldn't help but feel bad at the same time. The blonde had been seated in their corner for hours for someone even complete strangers knew wouldn't arrive.

"Miss?" he asked tentatively, his voice coming out a tad higher than he would have liked. At the woman's piercing stare, he waiter took a moment to clear his throat before trying again. "Miss, we just wanted to let you know that we're closing in an hour."

Wincing, Lucy nodded. She knew that really meant that they were closing in thirty minutes, and she really didn't want to be the customer that didn't leave until the last five seconds. "Okay," she breathed out with a sad smile. "If you don't mind," she started, suddenly diverting her attention to her table and tracing small shapes into it with her finger, "but I would like to stay for just a little while longer, it that's all right with you."

Heartstrings not only tugged but completely ripped out from his chest, the waiter fervently nodded and promptly stumbled over his words in a sloppy response, "Oh no, that's fine! I just wanted to -I mean, I thought you'd like a warning before… yeah."

Lucy nodded politely and tried to smile again, and the waiter stiffly turned on his heel and walked back to the kitchens, his coworkers teasing him about how he completely butchered that as soon as he opened the swinging doors. They too probably would have been silenced in mortification if they knew that the blonde in question could hear every single word. Lucy didn't have enhanced hearing like the dragon slayers', but they weren't being exactly quiet either.

Letting out a long sigh, Lucy placed the palms of her hands on her thighs and ducked her head, the cascade of blonde hair covering up her facial features from the entire café. Her fingers tightly clenched and scrunched up the material of her skirt, and Lucy sniffled loudly as she willed the tears not to form in her eyes. She would _not_ cry over Laxus Dreyar, she would rather relive the entire Naval Battle than sob over a guy ditching her.

It took a while to compose herself, but when she did Lucy snapped her back straight and flipped her hair over her shoulder. After another collective moment, her eyes were once again drawn to the doors. Sniffling and crying wouldn't help her now, Lucy needed to get stubborn and determined. After tonight, she wouldn't run away like Laxus had, she wouldn't avoid the lightning mage because she was humiliated at what had happened.

No, she wouldn't run like a coward. The celestial mage would stomp right up to her target tomorrow at the guild and demand to know why he didn't show. Until then, Lucy would wait it out, give the artificial dragon slayer another hour.

Lucy got folded her hands together, took a deep breath, and got comfortable. She'd wait for one hour longer.

* * *

Laxus never showed up.

When the wait staff walked up to her table to inform her that it was closing time and she had to leave, they did it with sympathetic expressions on their faces and a few lights pats to her slumping back. Two of them even murmured phrases like 'better luck next time' and 'that bastard doesn't deserve you' as they showered her with the promise of discounts the next time she came, to which she weakly smiled at. They were trying to rally her spirits, and though it wasn't working, she really did appreciate it.

Lucy was escorted out of the restaurant, and by the time the door of the Strawberry Street Café shut behind her, she had still had seven bags filled to the brim with takeout containers surrounding her feet and nineteen 'buy one latte, get a pastry 50% off' coupons.

* * *

The guildmates around near her table all swallowed roughly when they felt the raw, furious energy pouring out of Lucy's every pore, sending glances at each other as they did. Jet, Droy, and Reedus had already moved an entire table down from her, and Elfman had gotten himself out of there as soon as Lucy started walked his way. The Take-Over mage was currently hiding behind his concerned older sister at the bar.

If Lucy wasn't feeling the rage of a thousand suns, she would have found it funny how the largest mage in Fairy Tail had run out of there with his tail tucked between his legs and muttering something about how too much manly power was seeping off of her. From what Lucy could see from her position in the far back of the guild, it seemed like Mirajane was trying to console her brother, and she balanced worried looks between Elfman and Lucy herself.

If Gajeel was at the guild today instead of wandering around Magnolia's dark alleys and feeding stray cats with Levy and Asuka, he would have said something like ' _Bunny Girl's furious over Laxus' lackadaisical behavior for Blonde Day'_. Well, if he was here _and_ he was aware of her plan to befriend Laxus.

Eyes narrowing, Lucy folded her arms on her table and locked onto her target. Laxus Dreyar was only five tables down from her, back in his usual corner of the guild and determinedly not even glancing in her direction. He wasn't wearing his usual fur-trimmed coat today, and Lucy idly wondered if that was because he had been afraid she'd try pulling at it again as she begged him to return to the Strawberry Street Café next Thursday.

Laxus' arms were crossed over his large chest and the headphones of his SoundPod were over each of his ears. His orange eyes were firmly watching the bar with the intensity of a hunting hound, and there was a tick in his jaw. Lucy was even too livid to appreciate the fact that without his blocky coat, she could now see the way the man's purple shirt stretched over his torso.

Around him sat Bickslow and Evergreen intensely listening to Freed explaining just how exactly water gets inside a coconut, and they seemed completely oblivious to Lucy's glowering. So, the dragon slayer had even had the gall to surround himself with the _Raijinshū_ as a defense strategy, most definitely thinking that his cheer squad would dissuade her from approaching him and chewing him out.

That's what Laxus thought anyways. Lucy wouldn't let the three mages' presence stop her. No, Laxus could surround himself with anyone he wanted, and Lucy would not shy away. Lucy would be 'discussing' with him about what he pulled on her yesterday, and if there were someone around then so be it.

Plus, Laxus didn't understand that out of the two blondes, it was _him_ who wouldn't want an audience. The Celestial Spirit mage would be demanding, very loudly, an answer for why he callously ditched her yesterday, and no matter how someone looked at it, Laxus would be in the wrong. Her guildmates would then avenge her, after badgering Laxus about why they were meeting up in the first place, that is.

As she stared at him, the celestial mage felt a twisted sense of satisfaction because she knew that the Lightning Dragon Slayer was picking up on her unwavering disdain. Usually Laxus was a pro at withholding his emotions from others, but this time it was his team that betrayed him. Freed kept turning towards the S-Class mage and asking if he was alright, and Evergreen repeatedly informed him, as if the lightning mage wasn't aware, that he was sweating too much.

Laxus was _nervous_.

Lucy pushed back her chair, causing it to scrape nastily against the floor, and stood up from her table, her eyes never leaving the Lightning Dragon Slayer. As soon as she was up on her two feet, she smacked her hands down onto the tabletop in a dramatic way that she'd once read about in a book. Lucy's lips twisted up in a smirk when she could make out the smallest of jerks in Laxus' form at the noise. So, he must be listening in to her movements as well.

Before she started making her way over to his table, the stellar mage peered around the guild's building, searching for any other dragon slayers in their midst that could listen in on the two blondes. Though Lucy would spout out the Blonde Day secret to everyone if that was the only way to get Laxus to speak with her, she would like to keep the secret a… well, secret. Her promise to become Laxus' friend would only get that much harder and complicated if a guild member was teasing her and Laxus about it at every step.

Brown eyes scanned the rambunctious space, and couldn't find any other mage with enhanced senses that could possibly tap into their conversation. She already had known Gajeel was out and Wendy was still out on her dual mission with Chelia, but it was Natsu she was worried about. That morning he had, quite literally, ran into her as she was walking to the guild and had cheerfully informed her that he was going fishing with Happy, Gildarts, and (an extremely reluctant) Cana. He invited her as well, but the blonde mage had turned it down so she could confront Laxus.

Natsu had _said_ he was going fishing, but the rosette had always had this unsavory tendency to pop out of nowhere and overhear every single important conversation in his teammates' lives. Like an accidental eavesdropper… Or was it really accidental? It was almost uncanny, the way he always 'just happened' to be in the area…

Shaking her head, Lucy refocused on her objective. She could be suspicious about Natsu's highly convenient overhearing later, but now she had to focus on the mage that had humiliated her last night by leaving her hanging. After a deep breath and brushing off some nonexistent dust from her mini skirt, Lucy was ready.

The Celestial Spirit mage steadied her shoulders, breathed in, and walked towards a tensing lightning mage. Every step that took her closer to Laxus made the man's shoulders stiffen until Lucy was almost worried that he was about to pull something.

Lucy had set her face into her 'angry look', but she almost broke when she overheard the arguing _Raijinshū_ fight over who had the right to the extra plate of french fries. She nearly had to walk away and go collect herself when Freed sniffed, "Fries starts with an 'f', and as does 'Freed', so they rightfully belong to me." Before just snatching up a handful.

When Lucy finally strolled up to his table, lips twitching and desperately struggling back the grin that threatened to spill, the _Raijinshū_ all froze and blinked up at her with varying degrees of surprise, their previous argument about the french fries coming to a screeching halt at her appearance. For the second time, Lucy almost cracked and burst into a fit of laughter when Freed jumped a foot into the air after he realized that he had squashed the fries in his hand in shock, and currently had a handful of smashed potato in his stamped hand.

Evergreen had paused in mid action, her hand -opened fan in its clutches- still raised in the air where it had been gaining momentum to smack Freed for his theft. Clearing her throat almost daintily, Evergreen composed herself first. The Fairy slowly, ever so slowly, lowered her hand while Freed madly rummaged through the mess on their table in search for a napkin to wipe his hands, Bickslow jubilantly cackling at his flustered teammate as he did.

"Hello, Lucy," Ever snapped over her fan closed and greeted her, adjusting her body slightly forwards so Freed could hide behind her figure as he frenziedly cleaned off the fries. "Do you need me and my wing's help getting Juvia's most recent cooking experiment off the guild's ceilings again?" She purred before she shook her head and tutted sadly. "The poor woman will never nab Gray with those horrendous disasters."

Lucy's answering smile was one of those smiles that appeared sweet and innocent, but the longer someone stared at it, the more menacing it became. "Not this time, Evergreen. However…" The smaller blonde clasped her hands and started rocking on her heels. "… Believe it or not, I actually need to talk to Laxus again." She turned to the mage in question, smile still steady and beaming.

The _Raijinshū_ didn't have a chance to react. There was a crackle in the air and a contained flash of lightning briefly illuminated everyone's faces and caused Evergreen's glasses to flash. Laxus' jaw clenched, and he, astonishingly enough, turned his head to meet her eyes. Lucy had been thinking that he'd divert his own gaze for at least another six minutes, maybe ten.

"What do you want," the lightning mage growled it out as he took off his spiked headphones, and there he went not adding question marks to his questions again.

He sounded furious, but Lucy wasn't scared. During the two Blonde Days, the smaller blonde had spent a total of six hours staring at his cross, disgruntled face, and right now, the Lightning Dragon Slayer did not appear angry. His orange eyes weren't narrowing in that nasty glare that could make a grown dragon wet itself, and the vein in his forehead wasn't popping out. If anything, the blonde mage kind of looked guilty.

While the other three mages moved away from their leader, Lucy didn't even flinch as she stood her ground. "I needed to talk to you about yesterday," the celestial mage said pleasantly and aimed a, not so subtle, glance towards the _Raijinshū_. "In private, maybe?" She suggested sweetly.

Laxus shared glances with his teammates, who were beginning to appear awfully curious. This was the second time the Celestial Spirit mage had approached them and asked for their leader, and Freed and Evergreen were already getting suspicious while Bickslow… well, Bickslow was just trying to decide what he'd make for dinner that night. When things didn't concern his family's safety -well, to put it simply, he sometimes just didn't give a flying shit.

Laxus eyed her and searched her face, probably trying to find clues that would reveal if she was bluffing her not. Sitting up straighter, Laxus scoffed and declared, "If you have anything to say to me, you can say it in front of them." It was a desperate last attempt to discourage Lucy, and they both knew it.

Lucy shrugged. It was his call. "Okay," she chirped simply. Sending the lightning mage a sly look, she continued, "I wanted to ask you why you didn't come to Blon-"

" _Stop_." It was more of a snarl than a word, but Lucy understood and shut her mouth with a _click_. Laxus had held up one hand, palm towards her, as he used his other to pinch the bridge of his nose. He took a moment to breath, and then the Lightning Dragon Slayer dropped his arms and shot her a resentful glower. "Fine."

He was frowning at her, but there was no real heat behind it. It was almost as if he was - Lucy's entire thought process came to a screeching halt and she blinked at the slayer. Was… Was this Laxus' version of _pouting_? Was the S-Class mage _pouting_ because he didn't get his way? He was, he totally was!

Lucy almost clapped her hands together and squealed because that was _absolutely precious_. Laxus Dreyar, guild master in training and Grand Magic Games winner, was _pouting with his little glare._ If the much larger man knew where Lucy's train of thought had taken her, he would probably be pulling a hissy fit. _And wasn't that thought even more adorable_.

Completely unaware of what was going on in the celestial mage's head, Laxus turned towards the _Raijinshū_ and bluntly told them, "Wait outside for me, I'll be out there with you in a few minutes." He even jerked his thumb towards the guild's massive doors for emphasis.

Freed was peering back and forth between the two blonde mages, slightly overwhelmed and confused, and at his leader's words the Rune mage frowned. "But Laxus-" he started, but was interrupted by the man himself.

"Please," Laxus added, and Lucy watched in fascination as the vein in Laxus' head started popping out again (he should really get that looked at, was that normal?).

Freed was just about to open his mouth and protest more, but was silenced when Evergreen's elbow connected with his side. The green-haired mage barely flinched, more offended than hurt really, but Lucy still winced in sympathy, her mind suddenly taken back to the massive sleepover the girls (and Gray) had a few days ago. Juvia's scarily quick and pointy elbows still haunted her dreams.

The two exchanged meaningful, and complicated, head and hand gestures, and Lucy could only watch as they came to a conclusion. Ever and Freed both reached over and slapped Bickslow's shoulders and told him they had to leave. The Seith mage merely shrugged and unnecessarily relayed the information to his 'babies'.

As the _Raijinshū_ warily got up from the table and filed out of the guild's headquarters, Evergreen muttered something that Lucy couldn't hear into Freed's ear. Laxus heard it though, and the dragon slayer grimaced at whatever he had overheard.

Laxus didn't speak until after the doors had shut behind the three with a soft latching noise, and only then did he grumpily prop his elbow up on the table and place his chin on his palm. He seemed strangely resigned when he muttered, "What do you want, Blondie?"

Taking that as an invitation to join him at his table, Lucy slid into the chair that Bickslow had occupied and lightly placed her hands on the tabletop. She let her face show just how upset and wounded she was. She was more sad than angry now for some reason. Perhaps seeing the _Raijinshū_ just enjoying each other's company and messing around with each other had calmed her ire.

After blowing some hair out of her face, Lucy leaned forwards and asked seriously, "Why did you not come to Blonde Day? Why did you ditch me?"

The slayer's shoulder lifted up in one of those one-shouldered shrugs, the lightning mage apparently now too lazy to even shrug properly with both shoulders. "I didn't want to go," he said it simply, without any a hint regret or that earlier guilt. The slayer's gaze was cool and collected, the exact opposite to how the other blonde felt.

Inside, she was a mess of different emotions. Lucy's mouth dropped into a little 'o' at the confession. She hadn't expected Laxus to just _say_ it. She… She thought he would at least feel a little bad about it. "Excuse me?" She gasped, when she actually digested his words. "What do you mean you didn't want to go?"

The fellow blonde sighed. "What else do you want from me, Blondie, do you want me to say it again?" He asked tiredly. "I didn't want to go."

She flinched like she'd been hit. "But why?"

"I don't need a reason why, much less tell you why," he muttered it more to himself than he did to her. "But if you just _must_ know, I went out to each with Ever, Freed, and Bicks. Okay? Happy now?"

"Wha… What? So you forgot about Blonde Day?" Lucy whispered tentatively, but she didn't even let herself hope. No way anyone would forget a smaller female clutching their clothing and making a fool of themselves by begging them to come back. No, he hadn't forgot.

He gave her a dry, flat look that caused her hunch in on herself in shame. She knew what he was going to say next, but she wasn't so sure she was prepared for it. Lucy squeezed her eyes shut as Laxus deadpanned, "What do you think? We just got back from an S-Class mission and they wanted to go to that new restaurant on Blackberry Pine Street." She had heard wind of that new restaurant. She'd also heard that it was fantastic. "I had the choice between picking hanging out with my friends and Blonde Day, which one do you think I chose?"

She opened her eyes and her face fell.

Laxus grimaced and he snapped his fingers in front of her face, just like he had done during the first Blonde Day. "Oi, don't give me that look," he barked. "Just drop it, okay?"

It was worryingly how much she wanted to reach over and shake the man, but Lucy was smart enough to recognize a death wish when she saw one. Plus, she was particularly proud of her hair today, and she wasn't in the mood to be electrocuted and have it ruined. And, wait, he wanted her to just forget everything that had ever happened and never speak of it again? Yeah, right, like that would happen. She hadn't spent the past three weeks obsessing over trying to become his friend to just 'drop it'.

"Drop it?" Lucy said blandly, not liking the words on her tongue at all.

"Now you're just repeating me." Laxus wiped his hands on his pants and stood up from his chair. He shook his head at her like she was some sort of misbehaving child as he put his headphones back over his ears.

Lucy blinked up at the other blonde who suddenly towered over her and was practically swallowing her up in his shadow. Her mind was furiously trying to keep up with what was happening, and she just couldn't grasp a single coherent thought. He was getting up? Why was Laxus getting up? Was he _leaving_? Something in her finally snapped into action and she shot upwards.

She stumbled over her own words and took a step around the table. "What -Wait!" And because life hated her, her foot slammed into the table's legs and she lurched forwards, hands flailed out and gripped the table to stop her fall. She had caught herself, but her cheeks heated up in embarrassment at the possibility at what could have happened.

Laxus was unamused and he raised that damn eyebrow at her again while the Celestial Spirit mage righted herself. Taking another step forwards, Lucy fisted her hands at her side, but she wasn't angry. She was scared. Her voice faltered when she squeaked out, "Wha… What are you doing?"

He snorted and spread his hands. "What does it look like I'm doing? I told my team that'd I'd be right with them." The look he gave her was disinterested and lacked all warmth, and it made Lucy freeze in her tracks. Maybe it even stopped her from reaching out and grabbing onto him like she promised she wouldn't this time.

And without further ado, the dragon slayer unceremoniously turned around and walked towards the doors without a single glance over his shoulder. It was probably a good thing too, or else he would have seen the stellar mage furiously rubbing her arm across her eyes to wipe away the gathering tears there. Lucy silently yelled at herself for the mess she had created and her lack of planning.

She'd been so confident too as she marched straight up to him. She had played her cards right and even achieved Laxus sending away the posse, so what had gone wrong? Where did it all fall apart for her? Was it his abrupt confession? Did that one, horribly rude, statement throw her off that much?

Lucy's eyes glazed over, unfocused, the second the wooden doors slammed closed and the din in the guild -which had momentarily ceased when they had heard the telltale sign of Laxus' lightning cracking- resumed with cheerful shouting and the dull thud of a few thrown punches. No one seemed to notice the small blonde in the corner, not even Mirajane who was too busy scolding Romeo for trying to find a potion that would increase his muscle mass so he could actually knock out Elfman. Mira was reminding him of the risks of mysterious potion sellers and the _Parfum Accident._ The young mage instantly paled.

Though today had been a massive failure, she wasn't going to give up. She didn't know what she was going to do for the next Blonde Day -because, obviously, the chance she would be able to get Laxus to return to the Strawberry Street Cafe was lower than low- but she had to switch it up a bit. How, she hadn't figured out that part yet, but she'll get there. The job idea was out though, she had completely given up on that.

Staring down sadly at her fingers, Lucy wiggled the digits. She could sense Laxus slipping through her fingers, and there was nothing she could do about it if she didn't think of another plan to get Laxus to return to Blonde Day.

The worst part was that Lucy had promised to Natsu, Happy _and_ herself that'd she would befriend Laxus Dreyar, so she just couldn't throw her hands up in the air, wave a white flag, and surrender. She still somehow had to get the lightning mage to actually prefer her company, and not look like he was suffering whenever she got within a five foot radius of him.

Her determination to will back her waterworks wasn't helping the mage, so she hung her head in her hands to at least shield the tears from the public's view. The blonde slowly sank down into her chair a fit of depression until her back was touching the actual seat and her legs were ungainly spread apart underneath the table.

Lucy lifted her head up from her hands, and studied them like she was searching the creases and fingerprints for hidden clues. Yeah, Laxus had no doubt slipped through her fingers as easily as room temperature butter, and she wasn't so confident that he was coming back. What she needed was the _Raijinshū_ 's fingers, those three already were Laxus' best friends, they had that bastard locked up tight in their hands... the thought trailed away, and something more important took its place.

"Wait a second," she accidentally murmured out loud as she pulled herself back up from her slouching position. A small piece of her and Laxus' conversation replayed through her head and she analyzed it. Hadn't the slayer said that he had abandoned her at the cafe because Freed, Evergreen, and Bickslow had wanted to go to a new restaurant? That he would obviously choose his friends over her?

 _Ouch,_ that had stung, but _…_ Evergreen, Freed, and Bickslow were Laxus' _actual_ , close companions. Present tense, as in _right now currently_.

The new idea hit her like a sack of bricks, and Lucy felt like she should have been knocked straight off her chair. It was a mind-numbing realization that Lucy couldn't process at first. Quickly, the blonde scrubbed away at her eyes to make sure there was no more straggling tears in them, and she wildly searched the mess on the table, pushing gross tableware this way and that, for a (ideally, unused) napkin to write on.

The answer to all her problems was the ever loyal _Raijinshū_ , how could she have not realized that sooner? The three mages were important to Laxus. They were so vital to him that he easily chose them over her. They were _special_. And Lucy… if she was going to get Laxus to like her, then she would need to know what was so compelling in the three mages that attracted the friendship and _love_ of a grouchy Lightning Dragon Slayer.

This was _perfect_. Lucy had always wanted to talk to them more and not just in a life-endangering situation. Freed would fit perfectly in with her and Levy's 'bookclub', she had always looked up to Evergreen, and she really wanted to casually talk with Bickslow about the similarities and differences between Celestial Spirit magic and Seith magic. Lucy would love to be their close friends too, and she wanted to see that uniqueness in them like Laxus did.

When her search for a clean napkin came up empty, the blonde let out a frustrated, close-mouthed scream and jerkily pushed away the dirty plates and gave up. All the napkins had stupid streaks of smushed potato on them because of Freed. She'd just have to remember this new idea then.

Lucy turned her head towards the bar, where the ever shining Mirajane stood wiping down the counter and chatting excitedly with Laki, Kinana, and Romeo. As she watched the mages smile and laugh, her brown eyes hardened with determination. No, she wouldn't cry about Laxus dumping her now either. She had more imperative things to do.

It was at this moment where she wished she was capable of high five-ing herself without looking like she'd gone crazy. She had to tell the eldest Strauss sibling that another agenda has been added to her plans to befriend Laxus Dreyar.

She was going to befriend the _Raijinshū_ too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry, but there will not be an update next Thursday because of spring break and I'll be gone from my computer! I promise I will try to make it up to y'all though by posting twice in one week though!


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